The Great Redesign
La vie est belle. The English translation is the title of one of my favorite foreign films, Life Is Beautiful. It was for years my signature scent and a mantra written across my clay coaster of many years. For me, life is an evolution of a constant with moments of stilled wonder; and it is in the latter that I have sat with overwhelming emotion and thought.
On this day one year ago, March 15, 2021, while traveling for work I was hit twice by an 18-wheel truck. In the throes of a pandemic, I was transported to a local hospital by ambulance, and I can still recall thinking, how am I going to get to Georgia for work? I was dazed, quite confused, and felt strangely as though I’d had a few cocktails. It was 11:00 in the morning on a Monday. I was wheeled back to a triage station where a male nurse asked me my pain level and where I was hurting. I shared that my head was in great pain along with my back, left shoulder, arm, hand, leg and foot, and that I felt as though I’d had a few cocktails. I had to go to the restroom and asked could he please escort me. He looked at me surprised and replied that the restroom was out the door and around the corner to the left. I’d been wheeled inside but at this hospital, I was on my own even after being hit twice by a large truck. After slowly returning from the restroom, a student in residency entered the room and asked me what happened and I repeated what I told the nurse…
