I used to call posts like this one my ‘cliff hanger’ series. A nod to my propensity to write about a life event, usually an essay steeped in concern over a probable outcome or inevitability, leaving the reader on a proverbial cliff. And then I never mention it again. Weeks later someone might ask about it in a comment: “So, I guess you don’t have colon cancer?”

Vision: My father calls me every day. I had eye surgery almost two weeks ago, and my initial assessment of the surgery’s success was dismal. Read about it HERE. Naturally, my father is concerned, and while I’ve been making glacial improvements ever since, the last time I talked with him, I still reported double vision. Similarly, my brothers text me every few days hoping for some good news.

Yesterday, after work, Susan and I walked the Peace Light Loop. The Eternal Peace Light is one of the principal landmarks on the Gettysburg Battlefield, not because of the action that took place there one hundred sixty years ago, but because fifty years after the battle, the American government installed a monument celebrating the enduring peace between the north and the south. The Peace Light like looks a giant candle. An eternal flame tops a large pillar, although eternal might be a stretch. I went there after a bad thunder storm once and found the area saturated with the smell of natural gas. The wind or the water snuffed out the flame.

Susan and I like to walk at the Peace Light because there are few trees within the one-and-a-half-mile loop created by the road. The long views are beautiful. As we walked, I suddenly realized my vision was perfect. Everything was crisp and crystal clear. One blue heron flapped out from the center of the park rather than the dual images I usually see. This morning, I took a bike ride, the first ride I’ve been permitted by my doctor post-surgery. For the past two years, bike rides were marred by double vision—not just depressing, but dangerous as well. Today, no double vision at all. The surgery worked!

Viral: Four weeks ago, I posted Torque, a Tourette Syndrome awareness piece I wrote. I shamelessly asked for social media shares hoping for one hundred shares by June fifteenth, the last day of Tourette Syndrome awareness month. I’m happy to report one hundred sixty-eight Facebook shares of my post. WordPress doesn’t track shares on other social media sites, so I don’t know where else it’s been posted, but I’ve been getting a lot of traffic from Linked In recently.

On Tuesday, the post was republished on the Good Men Project website, an online periodical with over a million monthly visits. And on Thursday, the Good Men Project posted it on their Medium page as well. I don’t know if people reading it on these two websites are sharing it, but each published version includes the same plug begging for shares.

This year for Tourette Syndrome awareness week, I hoped to make a global impact. I think I might have achieved that goal. 

So there’s an update on a couple of successes in my life. Usually, I’m complaining about one thing or another, which is stupid, because I live a pretty blessed life. I’m glad I have two obvious wins to report.

Image by Kev from Pixabay