Today was the first day of classes at BFA which means I had a total of sixteen minutes with my two periods of students. I was so incredibly happy to be in a classroom again though. This first day was vastly different than last year, of course, and I've got a lot of work ahead of me.[...]

I would never let a student take a short cut to completing an assignment - the goal is the learning that happens when you are going through the painful process. I often find myself wishing I could walk again instantly - wouldn't that be wonderful? Well, I might walk again, but the miracle I am now is made through this process me taking the time to loosen those muscles each night as I get into bed.[...]

There's a song by Owl City called "Beautiful Times," and I've been listening to it on repeat a lot lately (along with "Video Game Books" by Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers, but that's another story... maybe). In "Beautiful Times," Adam Young sings, "I fought all through the night/ oh, oh, but I made it alive/ the sun's starting to rise/ oh, oh, these are beautiful times/ this fight of my life is so hard, so hard, so hard/ but I'm gonna survive/ oh, oh, these are beautiful times." It's such a great anthem for me as I keep fighting to survive. [...]

I've never been good at resting, and if you've been following this blog for very long, you're sure to know I've been in a perpetual state of exhaustion for six months. There've been different levels of exhausted and different facets - physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. I do my best to be honest as I express that here so you can follow along and pray with me for rest and other recovery. I've realized though, in this last month out of REHAB, that I need a rest from this constant exposure. It's a whole different kind of exhaustion to have people constantly watching me through the wonder of the internet. [...]

With my granny visiting this week, I wanted her to see a few of the great places around Kandern. One of them happens to be Basel. I had something to mail to REHAB, but Granny suggested we drive it out there since we were going to be in town anyways; also, she wanted to get a glimpse of this place that has been so formative in my life recently.[...]

Once upon a time not too long ago, there lived a girl named Esther who had Thyroid Cancer. She made the world more awesome by being in it, and before she died, she said she wanted people to tell others "I love you" more often. Every year now, thousands of people across the world celebrate "Esther Day" by telling someone "I love you" - particularly someone they don't frequently say it to on August 3, Esther's birthday. Esther's not around to say "I love you" to anyone today, but she's left a legacy through her life, her words, and her inspiration of the character Hazel Grace Lancaster. [...]

It was inevitable. Anne told me so at REHAB. I was going to fall again. I just needed to get back up once I did. 

It happened a rainy Wednesday night after I got back from a friend's house. I knew my wheelchair wheels were wet, but I didn't think about the fact that the bottom of my fancy, expensive, custom made green shoes were also wet from the transfer from the car to the chair. I needed to go to the bathroom, so I wheeled up to my bathroom doorway as usual. Planted my feet on the tile, put my left hand on the radiator and my right hand on my mobile handgrip, and hefted my weight from my butt to my feet with the help of my hands.[...]

My England trip was wonderful. Some of you may not realize this, but I had to drive from Germany to France to fly out of a Swiss airport to get to England. I’m often struck by how strange it is to be on the border of two other countries. It makes life a little complicated though when I realized that my German phone doesn’t work in France, nor can it call Swiss numbers. It’s a little limiting. [...]

To my mother's chagrin, internet in Oxford is less accessible than I anticipated. However, I've been having a wonderful time in England listening to qualified teachers talk about high quality literature. It's yet another overwhelming experience as the world rushes by me at it's standard pace, but I've been significantly slowed by my accident.[...]

Don't worry, I'm still alive. I'm not rotting on my bathroom floor or anything. I just don't have internet at home. I'm currently sitting outside my school using their wifi to let you know I'm not dead. Clearly a lot has happened in the last week, and there is a steep learning curve. I'll be back to regular updates soon, I hope, but pray my internet and phone situation gets resolved quickly.  [...]