“Of course the prosthetist has one leg,” I thought to myself.
His name was Ken and he was big and loud and, honestly, kind of scary. He invited me back and I followed him through the halls of Aljan, the place where I’d received my prosthetics some twenty-five years ago.
Look what I can do!
I decided to go there again recently, not to get a new arm, but to do some reconnaissance work. I’m asked all the time about prosthetics and since I haven’t worn one in over twenty years, I figured it’d be good to bone-up on the subject.
The funny thing is, I drive by Aljan every week. And nearly every time for the last year I’ve thought to myself, “Dude, just make an appointment and go in.” I’m glad I finally did because I learned a lot.
Tony and I had breakfast, said our good-byes and were out the door by 9am. On the way to the airport, we drove past Fenway, which was cool, but I’ll need to get back for a game sometime. The flight home was uneventful, although, I fell asleep so hard that I slept through the entire descent and only woke-up on impact when we landed. I thought it was turbulence.
Bye, Boston!
Then I drove home in a snow storm (stopped at Kopp’s for lunch), hugged and kissed the fam…and then passed out for the rest of the night.
Fin.
Now, let me give some props to some peeps (I’m so relevant!) and then give you my overall takeaways from the weekend.
If Friday at the Helping Hands Foundation’s Winter Outing was mashed potatoes, then Saturday was the gravy. Tons and tons of gravy.
Because gravy is awesome.
Anyway…
The morning started early when our featured speaker, Meg Zucker, took the stage. I’d written for Meg’s blog last year, but this was the first time I got to meet her in person and she was wonderful! Her husband and kids came with her and got to beam at her with pride from the crowd. Her message was encouraging, funny, practical and resonant with everyone in the room! Meg has a way of disarming you, making you comfortable and drawing you in.
You know what kind of friendships you can forge in less than 48 hours?
The kind that will last a lifetime.
This weekend I had the opportunity to join over 300 other people at the Helping Hands Foundation‘s winter outing in Massachusetts. The HHF is an organization that connects families of children with upper limb-loss. In a word, the experience was life-changing. And to think I almost didn’t go! In fact, until about two weeks ago I wasn’t going. So glad I changed my mind.
Friday started with a bang, too. The plan was for me to wake-up at 4:45am, get ready and leave the house at 5:30am to catch the 6:10am bus to Milwaukee. I shot out of bed at 5:43am. It was like a PG-13 version of Home Alone. A hard PG-13. I was determined to still make the bus and really thought I would, but ended-up getting there just in time to see the bus pull away. It helped me answer the question, “Would you rather watch your team get blown out or lose on a last-second field goal?” Blown out. No question.
One of the things I love about being “that one-handed guy” is that I get notifications instantly whenever someone who is living one-handed is in the media.
Last night was a prime example of this.
Not only was Sarah Herron DOMINATING “The Bachelor” (that sounds weird, but I’m sticking with it), I was informed by a multitude of people that there was a lady on “Wheel of Fortune” who had one hand, too! And in quite possibly one of the weirdest coincidences ever in the history of mankind, the opponent next to her was named…BING. Yes, a man named BING was next to the woman who was spinning the wheel one-handed.
Today is the anniversary of the ‘quake that shook Haiti. Many of you might not know that I was in Haiti back then and left the country the evening before it hit. This is a piece I wrote in 2012 (slightly edited) that gives you an idea of how the events unfolded and affected me. I have friends in Haiti today (on a mission trip) and am thinking about them. And I miss my buddy, Jameley. A lot.
It’s the anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti.
Today I’m remembering that day in 2010. I’m remembering how it affected me personally and how it devastated a group of people I love.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a bit of controversy.
On the newest and bestest version of ABC’s “The Bachelor,” Sarah Herron, the patron saint of all limb-different women, said she was…brace yourself…”born with one arm.”
GASP! But she doesn’t only have one arm! She has, like, one and a HALF arms!
The adorable Sarah Herron and the hunky Sean Lowe.
Seriously, I’ve had a number of people ask my opinion about what she said, so here we go…
First of all, Sarah can describe herself however she wants. Let’s just get that out of the way right off the top. If that’s the term she’s comfortable with, then that’s her prerogative. My stance on how a person with a limb-difference is described, or how they describe themselves, has changed over time and it may very well do so again at some point. For now, though, my stance is this:
It’s that special time of year when we purposely drive into the most congested part our city to wait in long lines and spend money we don’t have. After all, nothing says “Thanks for being born, Jesus!” like flipping somebody off in a parking lot.
I kid, I kid.
Seriously, I hope you’re able to enjoy time with your family today as you remember the reason for the season. I tried everything I could to avoid using the phrase “reason for the season,” but I couldn’t do it.
Anyhow…I’ll stop writing now and just encourage you to watch this short video message:
Until this year, I’ve never had any of my winter coats tailored because of my arm.
It’s always been like Taylor Swift sings, “We are never, ever, ever…gonna get it tailored.”
I think that’s how it goes, anyway.
So, why after all these years did I decide to get this one tailored? The truth is, I just really liked the coat and thought, “Why not?” And honestly, it’s good for the blog.
I contacted my friend Rebekah and asked if she’d be interested in helping me out. Rebekah owns a bridal shop in downtown Madison and designs incredible dresses, so I figured she’d probably be able to do something. She agreed and soon enough I was in so she could take measurements and work her magic. And work her magic she did! Here’s Rebekah explaining what she did for me:
When I went to pick-up my coat, I was excited to see what she did. When I saw it and tried it on for the first time, I kind of flipped out. I was blown away by her work. I even apologized a couple times saying, “I hope you’re not offended by how pleasantly surprised I am…I just think it’s so awesome!”
Here are a few better looks at the coat, with me in it:
Doesn’t that look awesome?!
Lookin’ snazzy.
I’m occasionally asked for my thoughts on having clothes tailored. Personally, I’ve only had two items tailored in my entire life (my suit coat and now my winter coat). It’s not that I’m against it at all; I just never considered it. I’m fine just rolling or pushing up my sleeves. It doesn’t bother me at all. That said, I really like how my coat feels and wouldn’t be surprised if I chose to try tailoring some other items in the near future. We’ll see.
So, what do you think of my coat? And what’s your experience with having clothes tailored?
(Don’t forget to checkout Rebekah’s site and “like” her Facebook page! Thanks, Rebekah!)
