Things like not getting a full nights sleep or working longer hours than I should do have a huge impact on what I am capable of doing. It’s funny as this is a universal problem - no one likes not having enough sleep. But for us TBI survivors it really shuts things down.

The past 4 days my brother and his family have been visiting. We have had the best family time. It really couldn’t have been better. We got lots of photos, videos, and frankly had so much fun talking, doing puzzles, creative projects, reading and just being together. We are hoping that a June vacation will be possible and we can create more memories, but we had this magical time. Sitting in the kitchen with my mom after lunch, when it was reinforced to not uproot myself, my mom said to me: “Christina, you were here all of last year and have spent so much time with your father. What a blessing your injury turned out to be.”

As the days are getting longer and flowers begin to bloom I think this curiosity is the solution for my double disability that has choked me up. When I got sober and would be whining about all the problems I had, my incredible sponsor would tell me to find solutions. Always look for solutions. My therapist and I will talk about hooks (self pity in this case) that latch on and take up valuable real estate in the mind.

I’m very open about my traumatic brain injury in 2003. I have shared that my art is a direct response to this trauma. Living with it is a daily thing and I will carry its aftermath until I die. What I have not been explicit about is my business being the only feasible course of action to build a career that can financially sustain me the rest of my life.

What a year 2023 has been. It makes me think of Charles Dickens and A Tale of Two Cities as this year has been the hardest of my adult life, but has also been the most rewarding. I have written about being rear ended last January. That injury still persists in my right wrist and to this day I am still unable to produce work. I have an amazing PT and hand surgeon and we are seeing if it can be healed without surgery. But the rest of that is a tale for 2024.