As tragic as my TBI appeared, and it was quite serious, there are many good things that came out of the situation.

I was no longer able to do my job as a network engineer.  I had worked very hard for many years to get to the place I was in my career.  I graduated from college with honors while working fulltime, raising a family and meeting all my military obligations.  That was supposed to be the ticket to carry me through to retirement.

Those were the plans I had in my heart but as the Bible says in Proverbs 16:9, God had a different direction for my steps.  Looking back, I see that he was directing those steps long before I knew it.  He put me in a place where my company’s insurance plan would take care of my future.  I actually remember wondering why I was paying for short and long term disability insurance.  I would never need anything like that.  Little did I know He was taking care of us like the birds in Matthew 6:26.

These are a few of the blessings.  We were able to move back to our home town and are spending quality time with my wife’s family while they can actually enjoy it.  Bonnie and I can spend time renovating our house which is a blessing to me and most of the time I think it is to her too.  When the grandkids came to visit in the summer and at Christmas, I could actually spend quality time with them fishing and playing baseball, football and tennis.  I helped my brother-in-law and father-in-law build a tractor shed.  My father-in-law helped me build cabinets in our kitchen.

These simple things may not seem special to everyone but to me, they are more precious than anything I could have accomplished chasing the American dream in cubicalville. I look forward to all the future blessings God has disguised for me.