"You inspired my boys," the Swedish-sweatered woman said. "We watched you come down that big hill and now they want to try it!...By the way, that was a nice little trick you did at the end!"
Date: 22 February 2024
Time: 12:30 - 2:00 EST
Venue: Leo J. Martin Ski Track
Town: Weston, MA
Occasion: Adaptive Cross-country Skiing
Host: Waypoint Adventure (where "I can't" becomes "Yes, I can.")
That morning, I had received a last minute text message from Carly at Waypoint Adventure, letting me know that there had been a cancellation and that I was welcome to join them if I could make it. I only needing a bit of encouragement, and went for it.
But this tale isn't about how much fun I had that day, or about how using my atrophied arms to propel myself ignited the fire in my soul, or how being physical awakened a part of my spirit, or how the day reminded me that saying "Yes" creates chances and opportunities and possibilities, or how the decision to take a risk by ripping down the steep hill made me feel vibrant, or about any of that...
No. This is about the two young boys in the Swedish hats; gazing up at me as they walked by, hugging their skis and poles as they followed their mother onto the snow-- toward their own adventure. Fatigued and exhausted, I had just been helped out of the sit-ski to free-fall into my walker, which doubles as a "now-you-can-collapse" seat.
I think about that moment with those wondrous Swedish boys. And how surprised I was to have inspired them to try something new and adventurous.
And they have reminded me that I still have something to give. They have inspired me to protect my courage to keep trying new things, to take chances, to continue to reach...to say yes when there are more and more reasons to say no.
Oh, and that little 'trick' I did at the end of the slope?
STOP ASIAN HATE
BLACK LIVES MATTER
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