ITS FINALLY HERE!!!! OUR FIRST DAY!! :)

TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!!! I woke up with a huge smile on my face and excitement running through my body.  I have been preparing, fundraising, training, and waiting for this day since November.  For the past 8 months I have been questioning if I should be doing this, if I could do this, what this summer was going to be like, how it was going to change me, if I was going to enjoy it, and had countless other thoughts running through my head.  But today was it the day we get on our bikes and departed from Seattle to ride our bikes across the country to try and improve the lives of people with disabilities.  It was almost an overwhelming feeling, but I was so ready for it!  We had a kick off breakfast at the Olympic Sculpture Park.  One of my fraternity brothers from ISU, Chase Gray, came and wished me good luck.  It was nice to see a familiar face and was greatly appreciated.  After breakfast we took some last minute pictures and got a speech from Kyle one of the Push America Staff and went to the start to get ready to start the ride.  As soon as we got start everyone couldn’t help but to smile and be extremely happy.  I couldn’t help but to think of everything I have done in order to be able to go on this trip, but that feeling of when we started washed away every worry I had and I knew it was all worth it.  The smiling faces went away 2 miles into the ride when we approached our first hill that was half a mile long and had a grade of 15%. Lol  And the rest of the ride didn’t get much better.  It was the hardest and hilliest 45 miles I have ever biked in my life! We did have one guy wreck his bike while going down a decent going 35mph.  Luckily he wasn’t hurt as bad as he could have been and just had some road rash.  Everything else went well and no other injuries happened.  Some of us decided to do a Push Challenge which consisted of us doing 1 pushup and sit-up for every mile we ride, so we did 45 pushups and sit-ups.  Then we had a sponsored dinner at the Ashley House.  The Ashley house is a transition house.  When families first find out they have a family member living with a disability it is a huge shock for most of them.  So what the Ashley House does is houses the person with a disability until the family is able to take care of them themselves, and they also help support them in any way they can by giving advice and contacts in the community that will be help to help them.  While there I met this 13 year old boy named Gilbert and this 18 month old girl name Camellia.  Gilbert was bound to a wheelchair and had no use of his arms or legs.  His head and mouth were the only parts of his body he could move.  But when we went into his room he was playing a nascar racing game on his computer using a joystick in his mouth.  Blowing made it go faster and sucking in made it go slower.  And then he used his tongue to control the car and in which direction it went it.  This is also how he controls his wheelchair.  He talked crap to the game just like any other teenage kid would do.  And watching and listening to him play his game you would never guess he was living with a disability until you see his wheelchair.  Seeing this kid play, act and smile the way he did even though he had every reason to complain about his life just inspired me like I have never been inspired before.  Most people would of just given up, complained, and let those challenges ruin their lives.  But not Gilbert he still lived life to the fullest and is happier than most people I know.  And Camellia had a disorder that caused her bones to not mature or grow strong.   They were so weak in fact that at 18 months she already broke her arm from crawling and broke her leg from trying to walk.  The disorder is not fixable and her caretakers said she was not expected to live long.  Her own weight will one day most probably break her spine.  This really caused me to take a step back and look at life in a different way and choked me up a little.  Because even though this little girl will most probably face many struggles and live a short life all she cared about was playing with my plastic water bottle.  And she did it with the biggest smile on her face.  Being around her made you do nothing but smile and appreciate life that much more.  It really made me realize how the small things in life really don’t matter and should never bring you down.  These two kids are the reason why we are going to get on our bikes every morning no matter how bad we hurt and no matter how tired or sore we are.  They are the inspiration that makes us want to make a difference for people living with disabilities because all they want is to be accepted and treated like a normal human being instead of being judged just because they have more obstacles in their lives then we do.  This first friendship visit was an amazingly powerful one and I will never forget it.  It will touch me and inspire me to never let the little things in life get in my way from loving life and smiling.  I hope stories like this will inspire you to do the same!!  I know I am biking across America to improve and change the lives of people with disabilities but today I feel like Gilbert & Camellia changed my life more then I will ever be able to change theirs!  “The only disability in life is a bad attitude!”