I'm here. I'm doing this interview.

I'm not going to lie and say that my life is completely

PTSD-free, but I'm here.

I'm doing this interview.

I wouldn't have done that before.

I'd probably be home, drunk, afraid to leave the house.

Little things like sitting next to a stranger

while I'm in a waiting room at the VA, I never did that before.

And then, that pays off because then we start talking,

and then I make a connection to another person

even though it's just for a moment.

I never did that before, and those are the things

that I walk away with that are beautiful to me,

you know, that mean a lot to me.