Suddenly I'm Craving Shrimp

THWACK!

I never used to crave shrimp (nor did I ever crave anything that costs $34.99/pound or has the texture of rubber chickens), but now, after a head-on auto collision that resulted in head trauma, my brain says, "Whoa, shrimp is a-maaaaaayyy-zing." Suddenly, I like it even more than Bubba-the-Shrimp-Lover-Guy from Forrest Gump.  (Bubba:  "Shrimp is the fruit of the sea... There's pineapple shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it"). 

No, Bubba, you've never had shrimp 'til you've had it in your oatmeal.  I'm telling you, it's also very good with curry powder.  Or dipped in hummus.

This shrimp fetish is kind of new, but the other day, while I was eating grilled shrimp for about the fourth time in a week, a weird realization occurred to me.  No, the realization was not that Lady Gaga was really Born This Way. While eating my meal, SUDDENLY IT HIT ME that so much of who I “think I am” really is subject to which parts of my brain are partying and which ones are on sick leave. Before my head injury, I used to say things like:  "I am a red person, not really a blue person." "I am not a Lady Gaga listener."   And:  "I am a vegetarian, not a seafood person."

Well, let me tell you that I'm now not only enjoying shrimp these days, I'm also wearing blue clothing more often.  I'm suddenly listening to music recorded after the year 2000. (Prior to the accident, I listened mostly to 70s/80s tunes and was very holier-than-thou about newer music being uninspired).

Personality changes are a really common aftereffect of head injury, which leads me to believe that "I" am not really "Me" and that I need to keep myself open to newer definitions of myself.  Tomorrow, I could no longer be a "shrimp person" and could become a "liver and onions" person.  You could be reading this blog and think, "I love online blogs," and then tomorrow have a giant coconut fall on your head from a cargo plane and never read blogs again. 

My point is that sometimes we think we're Born This Way, only to find out we're so much more.