The best news of my entire life.

I am sitting here in a chair in Nashville in complete shock and amazement. Today is the one year anniversary of Diane's arrival in India. Wednesday was the one year anniversary of the accident. I just returned from Hollis' rehabilitation center where upon leaving I shed tears of joy.

HOLLIS IS NOT AT ALL IN A COMA ANYMORE!!!

Yes! You read that correctly! Scream, shout, jump up and down! Have a shot! Dance! Kiss somebody! It's the real deal, seen it with mine own two eyes! She is awake and talking and present and brilliant and amazing!

I just had a four hour long conversation with her. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. I started off by saying how good it was to see her... to which she replied how glad she was that I came. Blown to pieces, my mind is blown. I hugged Diane and said "It's like a miracle." and as I said it, I realized that it wasn't like one... it is one. I can't explain the feeling and honestly I'm still processing it but to be able to talk to our beloved Hollis again is a gift. She is free from what she describes as a scary, sad dream. She said there was a big red monster and flames chasing her. She is out of there now and I can't help but think it's got to have a lot to do with how many people were rooting for her. Don't get me wrong, Hollis is one of the strongest most powerful women I have ever met and did it fully bullheadedly on her own, but the magic that we muster as a group, getting her the best treatment she could get and all her visitors in SF and healers who worked on her... well it all just hit paydirt.

We started out just sort of mutually stammering for the words, me having not seen her in over 5 months and seeing her in her new consciousness; and her whole life having been completely turned upside down since we last spoke. It was a little overwhelming. Then we got around to covering it all... the accident, India, all of our friends, pre-india, the derailleurs, travels, her rehab, the benefit shows and so much more.

Now she's not perfect. She's been in bed for a friggin year and she suffered severe head trauma and is just getting back into the swing of things. She has a lot of amnesia about lots of things, which she describes as fuzzy. She is also crystal clear about other things and generally really positive, speaking mostly about about beauty and fun. Also describing most things she's unpleased with (like rehab) as boring as opposed to harsher adjectives. Her speech is a little hurried and mumbly so I have to ask her to repeat herself a lot. She has a long way to go still and is just beginning a long journey on her path to recovery. She is, however, just as cute and sassy as ever. We were crackin each other up and it is so good to hear her laugh and see her smile. Contrarily it got really intense at times like when I told her that I saw the accident and when she then thanked me for saving her life. We were both welling up a little bit but it's all such a happy occasion it couldn't last and instead she asked me for a hug. I bent down and she wrapped her arm around me and squeezed me.

Diane is beaming, she was there when I got there along with Hollis' sister Heather and her girls (who she's had trouble remembering... but hopefully it will all slowly start coming back). People change a lot when they go through these kinds of injuries and you never know what changes will last when all is healed. She can move her left arm and leg just fine (it was the leg she was kicking with through her coma!) but it's gonna take a lot of work to unlock her right arm and regain movement in her right leg. The day after tomorrow Diane is having an important meeting about getting her into the best intensive rehab program in the area in Atlanta.

So what now? Well all I can say is, if you love Hollis like I do, come runnin. Plan a trip out here to Nashville, stay with my friend Brodie or ask me for all the other options that are around of which there are many and come see her! Send her photos, videos, books, songs, movies, art whatever you think she'd like. If you have any money, of course rehabilitation is going to be so intensely expensive and take a long time and Hollis and Diane have a long way to go. Tuck a few dollars as a celebratory donation here or on the helpholligethealed.blogspot.com Also, call me, kiss me through the phone, lets smile together and I'll answer all your questions.

415-987-6576 THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!! This is what I got right now, more to come. Best day ever.