Guess What! You Don’t Know Me.

And I don’t know you, but how much of our past do we hide, even When it’s integral to who we are today?

More stories from Angel Trinh

Guess+What%21+You+Dont+Know+Me.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I play the violin. Even those who don’t know me at all can see that I carry an instrument to and from school every day. Playing the violin is one of my strongest passions. I’ve played with the Lincoln Civic Orchestra for the past two years and in a small ensemble named Apollo.

I have been told I have impeccable intonation and breathtaking vibrato, but I know I struggle in multiple areas. I lack bow control, so I have meek bow technique. This hinders my ability to maintain a good bow speed and tone quality. I lose even more control in performance settings where my hand will shake uncontrollably when combined with nerves. For years, I’ve been trying to gain control of my arm, but to no avail. My private violin teacher, Miss Heather, even created special bowing exercises for me to practice various techniques, but I didn’t get any better after several months. I just physically can’t control it. Miss Heather has decided that there’s nothing else we can try. Before you give me the old “Don’t give up, just try harder” spiel, I want to point out that we are not giving up. After years of working with my arm–and making little to no progress– we’ve finally recognized that the battle is out of our control and we need professional help from a neurologist.

Let me take you back to 2011. My family was driving home from Louisiana when our back tire blew. The vehicle rolled eight times with my mom buckled in while ejecting my cousin, three younger siblings, our family dog, Lucy, and me onto the interstate. I’m not completely sure what injuries my cousin suffered, but I know that she still has scars that line her back. My brother, Eli, had a broken thumb, and my sister needed a nose job at seven years old to fix her broken nose. My youngest brother, Lucas–only a few months past his first birthday– experienced a broken leg, arm, and a fractured collarbone. Their injuries were extreme for their young age, but the severity of all four combined were nothing compared to mine.

I had kissed the interstate with the left side of my body, resulting in a fractured wrist, a broken jaw, a broken left cheek, and a fractured collarbone. The most devastating wound was damage to the left frontal lobe of my brain, which rendered me unconscious for many days. While comatose, my lungs collapsed and I flatlined a couple times. No one thought I was going to make it. Doctors predicted that I would be paralyzed from the neck down even if I did happen to survive. After two weeks of unconsciousness, I woke up and had to relearn how to walk, talk, and write again. After about a month, Miss Heather cried when she handed me a violin because I had remembered how to hold the instrument and bow correctly.

You see, I wasn’t even supposed to be able to play the violin again. But I’ve continued to play and have become fairly advanced. The lack of arm control is residual from the injury to the left side of my brain. It’s not that I don’t practice enough. My arm shakes because of an internal process. I can’t do anything about it. This is why we are seeking help from a neurologist.

Most people who know me don’t know this story. Making assumptions about someone’s actions or condition is incredibly easy. We do it all the time. It’s a coping mechanism to help ourselves gain understanding of an unfamiliar situation. It’s often easier than asking the person upfront. Yet this is where problems arise. Many issues spur from misunderstandings due to the lack of communication. In a fast-paced society where messages are sent through a screen to be interpreted many ways, we can forget to pause and delve deeper into the details of a topic, person, or event. Learning about the background of something is especially valuable because we can better appreciate the work that comes from it.

The car accident has played a vital role in the strong, determined personality I have today. I never take any opportunities for granted because another one isn’t promised tomorrow.