If you can’t laugh, you’ll drive yourself crazy. In this situation, I had to wait a couple weeks before I could find the humor.
Like me, Veronica has a fire in her to educate everyone we can about brain injuries. It is our purpose now. She emailed the local news station and explained some of our story and asked if they would interview us. They said yes and we were very excited. We were looking forward to it for a couple weeks. I cleaned the house more than usual and I knew I was nervous when I had dusted the day before and found myself dusting furniture again that morning to make sure the wood of our coffee table and dining table was shiny. I set out freshly made chocolate chip cookies on the kitchen counter, locked up the dogs, we rechecked ourselves in the mirror, and were sitting on the couch waiting with anticipation. We had the front door open and heard them drive up. Right before Veronica went out to meet the news lady and cameraman, she looked at me and said, “I took some energy powder so I would be wide awake.” She normally uses it before we go to the gym.
“OOOOHH NOOOOO!” I thought.
It is pure caffeine. There was nothing I could do. What’s done was done. So, they came inside, we all chatted a minute, then, interview time. The news lady didn’t even have time to ask an opening question because Veronica was already telling our story. She spoke fast and with an abundance of enthusiasm. Every time I would say something, Veronica would cut in and excitedly talk over me. I would forget my train of thought and say, “I can’t remember what I was going to say.” And sit there. Then she would continue on. Finally, I had enough and turned to Veronica sitting to my left on our loveseat and said, “Stop. Let me talk. Every time you interrupt, I forget what I am trying to say. “I was getting irritated. So here we go….
The camera is on me, I have gathered my thoughts, and I was on a roll. Although I was talking and Veronica was finally letting me get a thought out, she stands up leaning in front of me while bending her leg underneath her to change positions on the couch…3 TIMES!
We got through that, and they asked to see some pictures from before our accident, in the hospital after our injuries, and as years went on, so we brought them out. The cameraman spread them on the dining table and was getting some pictures of them. Here I was telling him something he could use and aimed his camera at me, recording. All of a sudden, Veronica pops in view from the side with her hands in peace signs and her tongue sticking out. I thought I was going to lose it. But the news lady said she had enough film she could cut and splice to get a good interview. “After all, that’s what I went to school for.” She stated.
After the news people leave, Veronica says, “I think that went really well. I’m going to take a nap now.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her right then what she had done because I knew she would cry if I did, and I didn’t want that. It wouldn’t change what happened. All I said was, “Don’t ever take that energy powder before we are supposed to talk to anyone again.” And she went to sleep. In the meantime, I sat replaying the interview in my head. I was frustrated, fuming. I messaged my mom and two friends with the details because they asked me to let them know how it went. A couple days later after I calmed down, I recapped what really happened during our interview, ending with telling Veronica they taped for 45 minutes and only need two minutes of footage for the news segment. “It will be fine.” I assured her, trying not to make a big deal out of what happened. I told her, “They won’t run anything that doesn’t make sense or looks foolish on the news.” And I let it go. Veronica apologized and I was relieved she didn’t take it badly and cry because she is very sensitive when she knows she made a mistake.
So here we are two weeks later at a friend’s house with a couple friends there. It was last night and together Veronica and I retold what happened. Veronica was showing our friends how she stood in front of me in front of the camera and then she says, while laughing hysterically, “I sound brain injured! That energy powder made it feel like I had done a couple shots of tequila.” And we all laughed even more. She doesn’t mean to do these things and that is what makes her so precious. We all love her no matter what she does. My best friend just says, “OH little Veronica.”
The kicker was, after we were done talking with our friends, Veronica stands up with her hands out open on each side of her, wiggles her hips back and forth, and says, “I just wanted to be ZAZZY.” (Not even a word) And we laughed some more.
Oh my girl!
If you would like to know more about our lives and situations as we live with brain injuries, please read my book about the first 12 years of our recovery, titled,
A Miracle a Day, One Day at a Time: Hope After Traumatic Brain Injury
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We must find humor in life. Sometimes it’s just laugh, or cry. I choose to laugh. Have a beautiful day everyone. And thank you for reading my blog.
Dawn Corbelli 