Lessons from the Kids

The Tree House!

I spent the week at my sister's house, and pre-dinner they either say a prayer, say itadakimasu or do gratefuls. I particularly enjoyed the gratefuls because I got to hear about the things that really interest my niece and nephews, it also gave me the opportunity to let them know how much I enjoyed my time with them.

It was an interesting week because two of the kiddos learned that I have Multiple Sclerosis, and the other one learned that I take a shot every day. My oldest nephew asked a couple of questions, but didn't really show much interest, and my other nephew asked a bunch of questions and then moved on with the activity for the day. My niece was really only interested because she saw the pile of pills and the shot I take every day laying around the house, without any regard, on my part, to hide it. You see, they are all old enough to know they shouldn't touch pills, and so I could leave them around and talk about them from time to time.

So why is this all significant? Well, my biggest fear in sharing that I have MS with people, is that they will see me differently, see me as disabled or something. I'm lucky right now and have no major physical issues (except after exercise) and so it is frustrating when others put limits on my abilities, rather than me putting limits on myself, based on how I know my body. The beauty of these kids? Well, they are all very smart and may have done their own research by now, on what MS really is, but none of them really cared or blinked an eye at all. As a matter of fact, they instead 'ordered' me into the tree-house which is at least 8 feet off the ground on one side, and then put me on another ladder once in the tree house (another 4 feet at least) to install the roof.

These kiddos taught me a lot! Truly not hard to believe, because they are three of the five most brilliant kids I know, but they reminded me that I should not put limitations on myself unless there is a real barrier. Two inspirations for me are the dudes who wrote Run the Edge, and they say, why put off tomorrow, what you can do today? Anyway, for those of you who happened upon this page because of MS, you may not know I am an athlete, and this summer I have struggled a bit. I haven't struggled getting in the miles on the bike, but miles on my feet? A whole different story. But by reflecting on the kiddos not caring, I had to take myself back about 10 steps and take some limitations off of myself. I have been planning to run another half marathon next spring but was going to hold off on registration but today I said forget that, and took the plunge and registered.

Basically, what I am getting at here is this: We set our limitations. I do believe there are real instances in which we have to say the dreaded word can't for VERY real reasons, but until that happens, we all need to move forward.

Looking forward to another one of these pics soon!!!

Up Next: Keep Trekkin (inspired by my sister-in-law, but that is for next week)