Happy [AN]niversary to me.

Yesterday I woke up and everything was grey. You see, it was my three year brain surgery anniversary and the day always finds me depressed.

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I recently joined a virtual support group for Acoustic Neuroma survivors. I made my first post yesterday— asking what they do and how they feel on their anniversaries. About 40 comments came through the same—they celebrate life. And there I sat reading through them, deciding and wondering how I became the most pessimistic AN survivor on the planet.

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In short, on my anniversary I focus in on all the things surgery robbed me of. I guess, instead I should try my hand at remembering the tumor in my head set out to kill me and didn’t succeed.

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This year, I’ll aim to be more like the girl in the picture—hours after surgery and walking laps around the ICU with that survivor swag. She didn’t lay around like a victim, she said, “Oh it could be days or weeks before I walk unassisted? Be right back.” 💪🏽

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There is way more power in the word ‘survivor’ than in the word ‘victim’ and the fact is, I get to choose which I am every January 14th.