Recovery specialist Daniele Gentile, right, the chief operating officer of Project Walk in Stratham, was the first therapist to work with Alexandria Teixeira when she arrived at the facility in March 2015, about four months after the crash that left her paralyzed.
There are plenty of milestones along the sometimes smooth, sometimes curvy, occasionally rocky road of life that are worthy of some kind of celebration. A birth, a first birthday, birthdays that end in a zero come to mind.
As does a wedding, subsequent anniversaries, high school or college graduations, you get the picture.
But how common are celebrations that mark the anniversary of what is almost certainly the worst day of one's life, a day filled with numbing anxiety for members of extended families as they hope and pray the updates from doctors get more encouraging as the days and nights come and go?
Not very common, to be sure.
But there are always exceptions.
A great example is Alexandria Teixeira, the Nashua woman who came within a whisker of losing her life on the afternoon of Dec. 14, 2014, when the vehicle in which she -- and her 10-month-old daughter Alyvia -- were passengers collided head-on with another vehicle on Middlesex Road in Tyngsborough, Mass.
Gina Teixeira knew her daughter would be thrilled if the family surprised Alex with a 10-year anniversary party, and she also knew it wouldn't focus on rehashing the "might have beens" or "if onlys" in the moments leading up to the crash and the subsequent struggle to come to terms with the cards she was dealt that day.
No, this party would be a celebration of all that Alex has accomplished over the past decade, which wouldn't really surprise those close to her and, certainly, the seemingly endless roster of people she's met over that time.
Rushed to Tufts Medical Center in Boston after the crash, Alex's condition was touch-and-go, her survival not assured at first. Once out of the woods, she was told she would never be able to move again. "They prepared me to drive my wheelchair operated by my head movements," she once told me. "That was not good enough for me."
Alex cited her "endless research" for a program that would match her inherent no-holes-barred approach to recovery for finding a newly opened rehab called Project Walk Boston (it's actually in Stratham but covers the Boston region).
Recovery specialist Daniele Gentile, now Project Walk's chief operating officer, was 21-year-old Daniele Crutcher when she greeted Alex, the facility's newest member, in March 2015.
Gentile was impressed with the new girl's attitude and work ethic.
"Now, even 10 years later, she's still doing her thing," Gentile said at last week's party, referring to Alex's full calendar of commitments -- including her employment with Granite State Independent Living as an advocate for people with spinal cord injuries.
"She continues to push herself when a lot of people would throw in the towel," Gentile added.
Just recently, everyone connected with Project Walk and similar programs celebrated upon learning that New Hampshire Medicaid now covers therapy sessions.
"This is huge," Gentile said, adding that the Project Walk team hosted a tour of the facility for health services personnel. Among them was Gov. Chris Sununu.
"It's the kind of place you have to see to understand what goes on," Gentile said. "It's a 'wow' thing."
Alex, meanwhile, credits "activity based therapy" for her ability to raise, and move around, one of her arms. "It's all about repetitive motion," she said. "I'm getting better and better" at moving a little here and there.
"It's working. It's just slow."
And oh, did I mention that she can now stand, unassisted, for a few minutes here and there? That is, in between exercising on her FEC bike -- specialized equipment designed to prevent and reverse muscle atrophy.
Among the partiers last week was Adeline Tammaro, one of Alex's grandmothers, who, with a mix of pride and amazement recalled in detail the ups and downs of her granddaughter's journey.
"She's my inspiration. Everybody's inspiration," Tammaro said as she watched children climb the guest of honor's wheelchair to give her a hug.
Tammaro, likely unknowingly, channeled the spirit of the late Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame catcher and "master of malapropisms," in praising her granddaughter's determination and unique ability to assure everyone around her things will be OK.
"You know, we couldn't have gotten through all of this without her."