I may never have mentioned this before, but I was in a minor fender bender [or kerfuffle, if you will] about six years ago. Each December, an associate texts me to congratulate me on my “staying alive anniversary.”

This year, the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation asked me to participate in a study about recovery from traumatic brain injury.

That study wrapped up this month with a virtual graduation. We couldn’t meet in person, so I received a diploma in the mail.

We also received DIY kits to construct our own graduation caps. We were gently encouraged, since the ceremony would take place on Zoom, to decorate our caps.

I stuck a picture from a photo album that mysteriously appeared at my house after an unknown calamity on there. But then I thought, “I should remind people who I am.”

So I added my name tag from a trip to the Price is Right.

An associate in Portland and I decided to take a road trip to Los Angeles when Bob Barker announced his retirement.

In preparation for the trip, I started logging prices for each item they gave away [I am an award-winning journalist, after all. It’s my job to be well-researched].

True story: They send quite a few more tickets for each day than they have space, so we got in line about 3 a.m. for the taping. We weren’t at the front of the line, either. We also weren’t the only ones who had memorized some prices.

But we got to go in and see the taping. Neither of us was called to come on down, though, so my knowledge of how much Bayer low dose aspirin and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese sold for in 2007 has gone for naught.

I saved my name tag because I’m very in touch with my emotions.

Another true story: I also wrecked a car on that trip driving through the mountains of Southern Oregon in a snow storm on the way home. That really was just a fender bender and we continued on our way. My associate and I had rented a car, so even though I keep wrecking cars, my pick-up truck still looks great. Also, we worked together at the radio station in Portland, so he had a good story to tell on the air when we got back.

The study at Baylor Rehab helped us learn how our minds work. Loyal Scaiaholics will recall how I was encouraged to start oversleeping.

But we also got to compare notes about our traumatic brain injuries. It was nice to learn I’m not the only one who alternated between proclaiming his love for the nurses and hollerin’ because I was convinced they were experimenting on me when they’d try to hook me up to the IV.

The folks running the study may have envisioned a different graduation ceremony when this started a year ago. No tassles could be moved to the other side, and we didn’t all get together to throw our caps in the air at the end.

But listen, gang, we still made it work. Everyone’s got cabin fever, but the key is to keep finding solutions.

The COVID-19 vaccine is starting to arrive. And I still threw my cap in the air; I just did it privately at an undisclosed location.

Maybe Moderna or Pfizer could include a diploma when you get your second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That’d make us all feel like we accomplished something by getting through this year.