The Incident: Afterthoughts

I think that just about every member of my family has probably listened to "The Incident" by now, save for maybe my parents. I know for a fact that 2 sisters and at least 1 brother have. I also know that this episode is, hands down, one of the darkest and most difficult things I've had to do. I knew at the time we sat down and recorded this story that it would get some reactions. I didn't expect it would make my sisters cry, although I probably should have. I can imagine that my parents either have not listened to it either out of nervousness of the subject or just the fact that they don't listen to podcasts.

I feel weird asking people to listen to us telling the story of me being hit all those years ago because it is such a heavy subject. At the same time, it is a very deep and real experience in both the content of the story and just sitting down to recall it. It seemed like a part of who I am and who we are that deserved to be shared. I think we mentioned that I intended to share this story in the early days of the podcast, which would have been this time last year. Having gone through it now, I am glad that I didn't do it then. I honestly don't think I could have gotten through it at the time by myself. Having ReAnna there with me and telling the story together made it much easier to get through.

I do want to say thank you to my amazing wife, ReAnna, for being there through all of that and still now. And for convincing me to sit down and tell the tale and send it to the world. It was not easy for either of us to experience then, or to relive now telling it to our listeners. I want to apologize to anyone who was sort of traumatized by the story in any way, especially my family, who obviously have a much more personal connection to what happened. Thank you for sharing your experiences listening to my story again after all these years. I know it couldn't have been easy. Thank you to everyone out there that listened to my story. We used to joke that it took getting hit by a baseball bat to get me out of that job. It seems like that's also what it takes to get people to listen to my show... Too soon? 

We probably will not talk about it publicly anymore. It's not that we are going to avoid the subject, but to be fair, if you wanna know something, it's probably in the episode. ReAnna did mention that we didn't talk about the tattoo I got as a symbol of moving on from it. Then again, we also didn't talk about a lot of things. A few years back I got a tattoo of a hodgepodge quote from Dr Seuss and a baseball bat on my side. The bat has in a small way become a symbol of my survival as it was the instrument used to try to take my life. 

All that being said, I am okay. It has honestly been a very heavy week between recording day, publishing, and taking in reactions. It has left me with more than a little pit in my stomach as the experience of sharing this story has brought so much back to me. But again, I'm okay. In time the new nerves will subside and things will go back to normal again. Maybe now and then someone new will listen to my story and comment on it. Whatever the case may be, it's over and done and out there for the world to know. It is time to return to my life as a dad and cleaner and ranty podcaster, making fun of crap in the news.