Dodgeball Day

I was never much of a standout in gym class.  I really suck at gym class games.

Today I re-confirmed that dodgeball is just as scary now as it was in elementary school.  I could've used D's help for sure.  Or at least his silhouette, to cover and conceal me :)

This morning my peers and I played a few rounds with the folks at the Center for the Intrepid (CFI).

In case you don't know, CFI is a revolutionary place where unprecedented things are happening for the people who deserve them the most.  It's too earthshattering for me to merely describe, so feel free to look into it and all the people it touches.

One of these legs is not like the other

Today our opponents included a group of people who are currently receiving therapy at CFI.  These folks are not only undergoing several phases of recovery and therapy but many also have prostheses and braces and other orthotic devices of all sorts.

$#!&'s about to get real

 It was a strange feeling, to try and bean a guy missing an arm and leg, but that's also the pith of my experience today:  people are people, regardless of the pieces and parts, whether original or replacement.  And yes they merit dodgeball-beaning just as much as anyone else.  It's a lesson we intellectually understand but can't fully grasp until facing an amputee about to gun one's self down with a terrifyingly powerful and speedy rubber ball.   But it's the same lesson my 12 year old stepdaughter helps me learn, too.  To me she's a goofy and quirky and splendid tween, just as she should be, despite cerebral palsy.

At the end of the day, I wish I was better at dodgeball.  Each and every person I attempted to knock over caught the ball, forcing me out, just like in 4th grade.

Read more here:
The Center for the Intrepid
The IDEO Brace