When I was 25 years old, I was really into bicycle racing. One day after work — I was the Cellar Master at a winery — I was riding my bike down Howell Mountain in Napa County, California. There is one section of road that is rather steep. It was dusk, I was going about 40-45 MPH (yes, 45 MPH on a bicycle) and I did not have a bike light. To make a long story short, the driver of a pickup truck coming up the hill did not see me, turned left in front of me, and well . . . I proved the law of physics that states two pieces of matter (me being one piece and the pickup being the other) cannot occupy the same space at the same time. I don’t know if it was Newton or Einstein or whoever came up with that law, but I tried to break it, and . . . the law won.

I was never technically in a coma. Someone in a coma will not respond to outside stimuli . . . I guess, but I would. How I would respond and to what, is in “TBI Hell” and it’s rather amusing, I think. I was unconscious for about eight days. I suffered a TBI and I fractured three neck vertebrae. I was in the hospital for three and a half fun-filled months of bad food, bad daytime TV, therapy, therapy, therapy . . . and good-looking therapists.

After I was released from the hospital I had to move back in with my parents, and then the fun really began. I relearned the first 25 years of my life in a couple of short years and was able to move out on my own. I even got a job. (Not in a winery. I physically could not do that work anymore.) The job ended due the owners retiring, and I haven’t been able to get job since.