Well, since this ongoing conversation has become a vibrant sattelite of my personal journey, I will, duly, share a little piece of my own personal annotation: One idea that has been coursing throughout my daily thought for the past week, but is difficult to share without sounding narcissistic has been surrounding the lake of expectations, and how I have been walking on water, or exceeding, sometimes immensely, most expectations. I do not want to, and cannot, take credit. But I have to, thankfully, and respectfully, give that to God. I realize that the past year had to have appeared indisputably arduous. Actually, however, I never tire of assigning the title "best year of my life." I had the support of my family, and my girlfriend, Regina, and had a good time.Iin my typical assimilation, this journey has been a worthwhile challenge. Yes, at times it was very challenging, but it has left me more of the man that I have always respected.

A couple of weeks ago, Regina and myself just had a very fun, worthwhile, meaningful trip back to VA for her brother's wedding. While down there we visited Georgetown, met with a couple of the deans, and visited a couple of old haunts. On the return trip we visited my aunt and uncle, Debbie and Sundar, in NY. That trip was a very good, worthwhile challenge for my, in particular, physical balance and independence. It has been a fairly gradual progression from wheelchair, to walker, to nothing with frequent falls, to general comfort alone anywhere. It is fairly interesting to think of "desired challenges," because a challenge is, by definition, something interfering with the attainment of the goal of one's desire. Nonetheless, one can benefit from challenges, as much, if not more, than their absence.

One of the first books I read to Scott (and eventually he read it to me) was one of very favorites: Oh! The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss. I read it to him quite often to remind him that his life was not over because of this accident, but to keep looking ahead, through the good times and the bad, to understand that it is the journey itself which is the goal.

I used to ask myself, "When will this all end? When will we be able to get back to our relationship the way it was before?" When it finally began to sink in, I was devastated to realize that the relationship that Scott and I started together was gone. Scott was gone. I was gone. I prayed that I would be able to love this new man the way that I had loved the last one, or, at the very least, that I would be given the peace required to pick up the pieces and move on with my life. It did not take me long, however, to realize that the pieces of my shattered past, when put together, created a beautiful new collage with Scott directly in the middle. It was then that I began to focus on my journey, one unsteady step at a time, in order to reach my goal: my new life.

As most of you probably know, Scott was one semester away from becoming a Georgetown graduate. When Scott spoke of his future, one of his goals in his new life was to finish up his Georgetown education, but he was not convinced that he would be able to do so. When asked why he thought that, he was unable to come up with a valid explanation. So we set out to make his dreams become reality and we decided to take on this challenge with the old Scott and Regina method: Road Trip!

We started our trip with our trusty map and our somewhat reliable GPS, Betty. After a 12 hour drive, we arrived at my grandparents' house in New Jersey where we spent the night and headed out the next morning with my grandparents in tow. We made it down to Northern Virginia in just 3.5 hours to my parents' house where Scott got to meet my family...for a second time (he does not remember the first). The next day, we jumped back into the car to ride down to Standardsville, VA (not too much to talk about-it is a pretty standard town ) where we spent the next two days entirely devoted my brother's wedding. After the wedding, we hopped back into the car and drove back up to my parents' house. We spent the next week visiting friends, hanging out with family, and sorting through all of my college junk.

On Tuesday, we went to visit Georgetown where Scott was given an opportunity to meet with Dean Gillis and Dean Sullivan. Together, they created a road map to completing his degree. This includes completing a couple of classes at a nearby school right here in Maine before moving back down to Washington D.C. to complete his last four classes. If all goes to plan, he will complete one class in the fall and one in the spring semester of this year and two classes in the fall and two in the spring semester of next year. One of his concerns was completing his Chinese requirement of which he has forgotten the majority. Georgetown is willing to waive the foreign language requirement and fill it with two non-western culture classes!

On Thursday, we traveled back to Georgetown in order to meet with the Director of the Academic Resource Center, Jane Holahan. Together, they discussed Scott's needs and determined what kind of accommodations he would require in order to be successful in his remaining classes at Georgetown. These include: extended time on tests and assignments, priority registration, class notes from a reliable note taker and the use of assistive technology (which he may have to purchase on his own).

When it came time to leave Virginia, we packed the car and headed back to Maine via a different route: Scott's Aunt and Uncle's house in Cooperstown, NY. We arrived in just 7.5 hours where we were greeted with open arms and a ready Cribbage board. They spent the following morning driving us around to see the sights like the Baseball Hall of Fame, Doubleday Field, the camp his cousins used to attend, and the local bakery.

We then hopped back into the car and set out on the last leg of our journey back to Maine. Once we were unpacked, we began to sort through the details of this trip, getting everything in order to begin our next adventure: going back to school.

With that journey behind us, I was ready for a nap and Scott was ready to do it all again.

20 months ago, I was not sure if I would ever hear his voice again, especially not talking about philosophy. The doctors said that he would be in a permanently vegetative state and that even if he did come out of that, he would never be a functioning part of society, but we knew better than that. We knew about Hope. Hope creates the most painful feelings you can ever imagine. It digs to our cores and makes us all re-evaluate who we are and who we hope to become. Hope is what fuels our motivation to begin our journey - to talk - to walk - to go back to school - to live. So Scott:

"Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You're mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!" (Dr. Seuss)

I love to see the first flowers of Spring, signaling the end of winter and the promise of summer. For us the first flower is the snowdrop which we fiirst saw this year around March 14. It's delicate white flowers hanging down defying the cold of winter and blossoming despite the threat of the continuance of cold weather. However, it's the crocus that got my attention this year. Two small purple flowers blossomed in front of the house just a little under two weeks ago. These have since been joined  by others of a lighter purple, white and yellow. But it's these first two remarkable flowers that have leave me awed and amazed at our awesome creator.

Last Friday's snow, you know our April Fool's joke for the year, covered these flowers in about six inches of snow. I was sure that would be the end of all flowers until the Narcissus and Daffodils blossom. Imagine my surprise when, a few days later, the snow melted and there stood the two little purple blossoms as strong and beautiful as ever. Oh to be like those flowers, able to bounce back so easily under the weight and pressures of our "winter" trials.

It was last spring, after a long and arduous winter physically, though quite mild in regards to the weather, that Scott began to bounce back and show signs of life again. It was one of the first days of Spring last year that he started making purposeful movements. It was only to reach up and scratch an itch but it was a beautiful sight. A year ago this week, he was finally able to brush his teeth, whereas a week earlier he had just started bringing the toothbrush up to his mouth.

Today, everyday activities like dressing, showering, making his bed come much easier to him, but there are still a few things that are difficult. We've had him out helping with yardwork a little, but bending over and maintaining his balance is definitely a challenge. As is, getting up from a kneeling position. He is willing to try just about anything we ask of him though. He's done some puttying of nail holes in the trim in the house, made us lunch, washes dishes now and then etc.

However, what he really needs is some visitors. Visits from friends, acquaintances etc. have been few and far between. He needs someone to come and talk philosophy with him, or get him back into the art of tying flies, or encouraging him to take up painting again. I do what I can and I engage him in as many activities as possible, but he needs more than just us, and Regina. She's great. Together they go to the gym, and hiking, but her work schedule keeps her away druing the day.

As resilient as those two little crocus, Scott is still standing tall, despite all the evidence that told us he would not wake up. He is an amazing work of God and I watch in anticipation and great joy as God's continues to work His plan out in Scott's and all of our lives.

I am awed at God's timing and prompting. Three months of not writing and not checking site statistics and the one day I do, I got to see the unique visitor count go from 9,999 to 10,002. I know there are still many skeptical people out there that believe in conincidence over the prompting of God, but I strongly disagree. We took a trip to Augusta today, ran into a man that has been following Scott's progress regularly and happened to mention that he missed the updates. It's not the first time I've heard this recently, but the first time I felt led to begin writing again. Lord willing, I will continue to write and Scott's progress will continue to amaze us.

It's funny the things that go through our minds as we lay in bed unable to sleep. The last few nights, I've been revisiting the move to Brewer Rehab. It was after all, a year ago, March 29th that I was faced with the need to make an immediate decision. Scott was to be discharged from Eastern Maine Medical Center that day and I was left with the difficult decision of where to go from there. I still stand by the decision that God definitely led us to Brewer, even though I don't know all of the reasons. It was a very difficult time as there were many people who chided me for making that decision. We've come so far since then and I still marvel daily at all God is doing and has done. We are so very blessed.

Thanks to all those who continue to faithfully follow this site and pray for Scott to grow into the man God has in mind for him to be.

It's been a little over three months since we've been home and though I intended to continue writing once we got here, life got in the way. I've run into several people over the past month who have all said they missed the updates and so, here I sit, trying to piece together some of my thoughts.

I keep having this picture of a puzzle that we are trying desperately to finish and at times pieces seem to fall into place flawlessly, while at other times we search and search for a piece to fit and nothing does. When doing a puzzle I like to sit down and sift through all the pieces until I find the edges. I'll put that all together and then go through the box again looking for pieces of a certain color that may fit. I could sift through a box of a thousand pieces, a thousand times easily, just trying to see how it all fits together. So, even though we are home and progress continues, the puzzle is not yet complete.

Scott has therapy at the Maine Center for Integrated Rehabilitation three times a week. Less time than we were originally told he would get, and I considered pressing the issue and trying to get them to see him more, but realized too that he needs the therapy of re-adjusting to home life. Our family dynamics are way different since the accident and we are all trying to figure out our roles.

Though they are improving Scott's two main issues continue to be with his short term memory and balance. However, we did go outside the other day and walk around the driveway, which is uneven and he was able to walk at least a hundred yards up the driveway without holding onto anything or stumbling and losing his balance. He has mentioned a couple of times that he thougth his balance was getting better, and though he still shuffles while he walks, I believe it really is. His therapists no longer feel the need to use a gate belt when walking him to and from his therapy sessions and to and from the car when he arrives at the center.

Puzzles are funny things, there are times when we'll sit as a family, a do a puzzle in one setting. Then at other times we'll start one and it will sit unfinished or even without being worked on for weeks at a time. This puzzle, the puzzle of Scott's life isn't a puzzle that we have any control over, yet we do see pieces continue to fall into place. What happens next is for God to decide and us to accept. We continue to pray for a complete and full recovery, knowing that it could take years to see the process completed and Scott feeling and acting like his old self again.

Our prayer requests for now are that we as a family are able learn our new roles and continue to grow closer to each other and to God through the process. That we will rely on and trust in God's timing and not try to force pieces into place before their time. Also, that Scott will hear God's call and be willing to follow Him wherever it may lead.