Walk A Day in My Shoes

5:29 a.m. - The alarm rings and I dread the fact that I must face 17 more hours until I can once again put my head back down on the pillow. I have never been a morning person but ever since I had a massive brain tumor removed in 1984, I’ve disliked the morning even more for several reasons, which I will explain. Walk a day in my shoes!

Each day often feels like an eternity to me because of the obstacles I must face daily - obstacles that were foreign to me before August 1984. I now wake up in an empty bed where my wife once slept and hear the deafening silence in the other bedroom that once was filled with the voices, laughter and love of my two sons. Walk a day in my shoes!

As I get out of bed, I see the lower leg brace that I will soon be putting on in order to help me walk. That will be with me for life. Having completed the NYC marathon in 1983 and knowing that I’ll never run again is still hard to accept. As I walk into the kitchen and see the huge monthly wall calendar, I am reminded not only of the important upcoming dates but also of the fact that I have a short-term memory problem for the rest of my life. Walk a day in my shoes!

When I get on the bus, I use my 1/2 fare Metrocard for "people with disabilities" and smile to myself. There are some advantages to being disabled (at least for me!) Think of all the great handicapped parking spots I’ve been able to get for over 15 years! Even better than that is that when I become a senior citizen in about 15 years, I expect to ride the bus and subway for 1/4 fare - 1/2 fare for my disability and 1/2 of that for being a senior citizen. Walk a day in my shoes!

When I walk into the faculty room at Xavier H.S., I see many of my colleagues laughing and smiling. I realize how different my life is from theirs. Although many of their lives may seem easier and happier, I’ll never know because I’ve never walked a day in their shoes!

As I walk into teach my first class, I greet my students who view me in a completely different light. To them, I am not a traumatically brain-injured person. They view me as the overweight, bald (or folically-challenged) math teacher with the bad leg. In terms of the problems I face daily, they see only the tip of the iceberg and quite frankly, that is all I want them to see. Walk a day in my shoes!

At the end of the day, I come home to an empty house, eat some frozen food dinner and prepare myself for the upcoming day. At 7 p.m., I usually watch "Jeopardy". Walk a day in my shoes!

10:30 p.m. - My weary head hits the pillow and I know that for the next seven hours I’m at peace because I’ve done the best I could for that day. There’s no greater feeling! You’ve just walked a day in the life of a traumatically brain-injured person.

Never take anything you have in life for granted because you’ll never know when it could vanish!

Copyright © 2001, * Michael Wlach