Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Inspiration

Today at school we had a fantastic speaker come to kick of Disability Awareness Month. I don't want to write his name here because I don't want google searches on him leading people to my blog.

TR first stepped on the ice when he was 20 months old. He began playing ice hockey as a little kid, and eventually became so good at it, he earned a full hockey scholarship to Boston University.

His first game that he got to play was televised live. 11 seconds after stepping onto the ice, he lost his balance, and landed in such a way that his spinal chord was damaged. He was suddenly a quadriplegic. He had no more feeling below his neck.

This happened in 1995. Since then he has gone back and graduated from college, written a book, and become a motivational speaker.

I can't imagine living his life. He is unable to feed himself, use the bathroom himself, or do anything independently. His brain still wants things that he used to have, but his body won't cooperate. He has such a positive attitude. I feel like I would just want to die if I was in that position.

I take so much for granted.

I am lucky to have the life I have. This was a good gut check for me.

I am lucky.

-b

8 comments:

M said...

I can't imagine living his life either. I admire his courage.

I also admire yours.

b said...

You're back on!!!!!

Anonymous said...

It does suck that our boys do not have memories of their fathers. That is what I struggle with most of all. Aengus and Logan know that Ed is up in heavan and also at the cemetary. They know he keeps us safe and warm and protects us from monsters. Logan was scared one night about monsters, so I told him that Daddy would protect us by swatting down the monsters and not letting them get into the house. He bought it and now he has the visual of his Dad batting away monsters, it's very sweet to hear them say "Daddy is going to keep us safe." I hope they never stop believing that. The other day Logan said he wanted Daddy to come back from heavan. I told him he couldn't because Dady's body was broken. His response was for me to go and fix him, because that's what I do...I fix people. It was so innocent and so pure and so heart wrenching all at the same time. As much as I hate that they have no memory of him, I thank God they didn't have to go through the horrible pain of losing him.
As much as you may not want to hear it, I think your sister is right about you taking a break from dating and try to figure out who you are now and what you want out of life. You haven't been alone since you were 15 and that's too young to know who you are. I think if you sit back and take some time for yourself, you will be pleasantly surprised at who you are or have become. Maybe you'll see a little of what we see, a strong woman with a big heart and an endless capacity to give of herself. What's the old saying...You can't love anyone else until you, first, love yourself.
Congratulations on your new business adventure. I think you will be great at it. I wish I had that flare or creativity. I am assuming that was your news for meeting yesterday, or did I miss something else?

M said...

Meant to post this the other day.

"One Thing I Give"

My Friend,
if I could give you one thing,
I would wish for you the ability
to see yourself as others see you

Then you would realize
what a truly
special person you are.

-B.A. Billingsley

Mrs. G.F. said...

People are amazing, they rise to the challenge (or hopefully most do :).

Just as you are doing.

J.Rowe said...

I think we all take what we have for granted at times. Life has a way of giving us gut checks when we need them most. Although his story is sad, he is alive. Life is for the living, and he's making the most of his. I admire him for his ability to move beyond his disability and continue onward.

The poem Mel found says it all. I wish you could see yourself as we do.

Mel- I'm glad your back!

StringMan said...

I remember that story. I had a pit in my stomach every time I heard about it. I'm so proud of the way he has fought back and carried on the fight - especially with all he has to go through.

Anonymous said...

Looks good! Well done. All the best!
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