Hi @maceytomlin,

I just stumbled upon this post this morning and I'm so glad that I did. I note after a brief scan of your blog that you seem to be a really interesting author so I'm looking forward to exploring your work in detail.

Thank you for one of the most engaging posts I've seen in recent times. Pain, and indeed its influence on us and how we navigate life is a topic that my wife and I often discuss. She is a long term sufferer of pain and has a deep knowledge of how it must be woven into life in a way that both recognizes it as a force that can't be tamed, yet attempts to do what can be to do just that.

It's a conflicting and complex issue and, as I see, one that's touched you personally. Reading your story I felt for both you and your grandfather. That horrible day; one I'm sure you both have wishes could be rewritten, would have influence you both in different ways for the worse. Sometimes there are no solutions to events that happen to us, we simply must let them be experience in their raw state as you say.

I often think back to the wisdom that my grandmother offered after her husband passed away. Some months after the event, enough time for the immediacy of the shock to have receded sufficiently for her to compose a few thoughts, she said to me that it's a falsehood when people say that "time heals all wounds". What time does is make it possible for you to present the impression that things are more normal. I think that was a very astute observation and I've found that to be true in my life.

Pain has a way of shaping us and not everything in life can be recovered from. We are moulded by what happens to us. Pain, disfigurement, loss, these are all things that we are forced to take on as a part of us. It sounds like you have a fascinating story and have the psychological maturity and introspection ability required to really make something of these realities.

Thank you for such a wonderful and thought provoking post. Resteeming and following you. Looking forward to engaging with you more.