About nine months ago a neighbor of mine in his mid-30s got in a bad dirt bike accident. He had to be life-flighted as he broke a ton of bones in his face and had serious brain trauma. After a month in the hospital he finally came home, but his personality wasn’t the same. He used to be super nice and reserved but had become really mean and angry all the time.

I’m out running three weeks ago, and this same neighbor flags me down. We ended up chatting for 10 minutes, and he is super outgoing and cheerful the whole time. I came home and told my wife about the conversation. We are both observing that this guy seems to be on the mend, and we’re feeling really happy for him, his wife, and their two young kids.

Fast forward to this morning and a different neighbor makes a post in the neighborhood Facebook group about some weird interactions his family has had with some random guy. Said random guy came to their house, was taking pictures of his house and vehicles, and asking questions to his kids who were outside playing. Said random guy comes back later with his shirt off and is screaming and cussing outside this second neighbor’s house.

Come to find out the random guy is the neighbor who got in the dirt bike accident. Apparently, he hasn’t recovered as well as we thought.

I did make the quip that I was grateful I was on the brain trauma guy’s good side (for now). My wife agreed with the comment but didn’t think it was funny.