Well, hello, my friends, and welcome to the Live Inspired podcast Monday, morning moments with John O'Leary.

One of my favorite authors is Victor Franco and he wrote this. Even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation facing a

fate he cannot change may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself and by doing so

change himself. He may turn a personal tragedy into a triumph.

That's Victor Frankel. So here's my question for you today.

What's your date? What's your date?

You know, I'm talking about the date when the phone rang, a friend moved, a partner walked out, the unexpected and unwanted

became a new reality. What's a date when your life that you had planned dramatically and

painfully changed forever? We all have one. What's yours? Well, for me, one such date, and

there's many, but one such date is January 17,

1987. It's a date that marks at the age of nine when I was burned on 100% of my body.

It's a date I should have lost my life and that I was forever changed dramatically and physically.

And it's the date of an anniversary that I celebrate, hear that word again, celebrate tomorrow.

A year into recovery, still in and out of doctor's appointments, therapy sessions, and surgeries.

I wasn't celebrating it, though.

I was still hoping that my fingers might magically grow back. I still wasn't celebrating it, though. I was still hoping that my fingers might magically grow back.

I still wasn't back in school and I still was very concerned about how others might treat and respond to the new me.

So as the first anniversary of that date approached, I just hope that nobody would notice.

I hope the date would pass. I still wish that my life would return to

how it was before I got burned. Surprisingly to me at age 10, my family treated it more as a birthday

than as a date to mourn. I remember waking up a little early and there are already balloons in the morning. Cards were on the

table. A few gifts and my favorite breakfast was served. Later that day, there was a large family

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