Return to the scene of the crime

Each week we have a theme, and tell a few stories along that theme...

In case you don't know, I love This American Life, and one reason is because of the range of stories that can all be told along the same theme. So, I have decided each week I will jack one of their show themes and play my own riff, if you will.

Act I- Return to the Scene of the Crime

I have spent probably three months of my life at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. Over a few of years that's not a lot of time, but when you consider it was in two chunks and some of the worst days of my life, the time feels much longer.

Graciously, many of those days I don't remember, thanks to the passage of time and the beauty of pain medication. But it never fails that when I return to that hospital, my senses catapult me back and memories flow freely that are otherwise repressed.

I smell the hand sanitizer, hear the beeping of IV machines, walk by the surgical waiting room, and my stomach lurches and breath quickens as the anxiety clutches my chest a little tighter.

But then I stop, take a breath, and remember that I'm here on the other side. And with each trip to return to the scene of the crime, I walk away a little stronger, a lot more grateful, and more healed.