by Roger Crain

Created on: March 06, 2009

I awoke that morning and went and stood beside the window, looking out into the pre-dawn condition of my yard. I marveled at God's handiwork; it was the first day of March, and we had just gotten our first snowfall of the season. Yet, in spite of the cleanness that that snow had wrought upon our dismal landscape, I realized that in two months I will have grieved my brother's death for nine years. My brother Sammy died in a vegetative state, no knowing whether he was in the world. All that any of us could do was pray and hope that God in His sovereignty would take him out of this world as mercifully as possible, which happened in May of '00.

Indeed, writing about the causal factors that led to my brother's death were not only therapeutic, but also a journey that was ultimately healing. Yet, that healing didn't commenced until I published my very first article on Helium. That initial piece came a few days after Thanksgiving '07, but it took almost a year after I had declared my membership in the community before I would launch heart and soul into turning those long-ago painful memories into immortalized gems. Thus, this article will show how that journey was a healing balm for my tortured soul.

I remember the day when I stumbled into the limbo of forgotten things: Was it possible to forget one's origins and go about your life as though your past didn't exist? Was it possible for a writer to be exhausted of all those vital nuggets that are his lifeblood? Was it possible to be strickened of your gift, forever consigning yourself to a life of nothingness? I needed to know. Consequently, by a strange act of mere chance or coincidence I invariably found myself at the computer researching an idea that I hoped would propel my fledging writing career to the next level.

At that point in my life, I was desperate for some sign of clairvoyance; furthermore, I was beginning to think of chunking it all in and forget about being the writer that was once part of the very fiber of my being: That day, as I was doing research on the internet, I type the word, "Helium" into the search engine, hoping that would be all I needed to pull up the information pertaining to my topic. The results I got back astounded me: There were lodes of information I had at my fingertips. Yet, one item especially piqued my curiosity, and caused me to click the link which took me to a website that made me even more curious.

Once at the site, I became like a child in a candy store: I clicked on portal after portal casually browsing around yet remained giddy to what was before my eyes. Finally, I clicked on "Sign Up" and it took me to an online form where I typed in my personal information and submitted it. However, I didn't fully commit myself to the community until almost a year had elapsed. That was another strange act of mere chance: I got an email from Helium.com requesting me to give my whereabouts, I had habitually left the online form in incompleted status. So I complied.

And as they say, now you know the whole story. Yes, writing articles on Helium has been a healing balm for me. If I hadn't accidentally stumbled upon the website, I don't know what would have happened. Each day I thank God for life and I thank the good people at Helium.com who provided me with an outlet to express my ideas. I will be forever grateful.

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