“A year of highs and lows. Bad car accident, life changing injuries, recovery, senior year of high school, prom with the bros, graduation, fishing with mom, planning for the future.”

A year unspools in jagged line—  
A moment splits the roads apart.  
One afternoon, the rush, the whine,  
A screech of metal stops the heart.  
Broken glass and scattered days,  
The world atop its axis spun;  
Hospital walls, blank as a maze,  
I counted fights I thought I’d won.

Recovery—slow as winter thaw—  
Every ache, a stubborn guest.  
Learning to live with what I saw,  
Pain blooming fierce within my chest.  
Yet senior year rose, green and gold,  
Despite the aches, I made my stride—  
Crutches and laughter, stories retold,  
Finding my courage deep inside.

Prom night in borrowed suit and tie,  
Brothers in arms, we claimed the floor.  
Laughing 'til tears brimmed in my eye—  
The music, the lights, the hopes we wore.  
Then tassels swung in June’s clear air,  
Caps thrown as far as wishes fly.  
Mom’s arms waiting, steady and fair,  
Her pride more bright than any sky.

We found a lakeside, just us two,  
Casting lines, our words unhurried.  
Silver scales caught morning’s blue,  
She listened as I dreamed and worried.  
A future planned in careful lines—  
Colleges circled, new paths scrawled.  
Wounds may fade but strength entwines  
In each lost dream, a voice called.

Now I carry scars and hope in tandem stride,  
A year of breaking and of mending, side by side.  
Tomorrow’s road stretches, rough and wide—  
With courage, loss, and love, I’ll ride.

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