As cocky as I was, on the exact day I turned 18 ½, I underwent a kidney transplant that would not only save my life, but in many ways, dictate how I lived it. I was a scared, confused kid who had, nine months earlier, been forced to grow up instantly and way too fast. October 6th is the 42nd anniversary of the second-greatest event in my life: that surgery. The first was when the Lord saved my soul on October 2nd, 1973.