April 29th, 2003 felt like any other beautiful spring day in Rhode Island. Little did I know that morning when I woke up and drove my car to the beach instead of my first period class, that it would be the last time I would ever feel the warm sun soaked sand under my feet. And that night, when I think back to the conversation I was having with my best friend Tim just before we took off for a little harmless ride on a dirt bike, which we had done countless times before, I never imagined it would be the last time I would ever hear my best friend’s voice.
The accident resulted with me facing the rest of my life in a wheelchair, which I initially thought would be impossible without the help of my best friend and brother. Words cannot express the emotions that I lived with for that first year so please forgive me for not even trying to convey them.
As time passed it became easier to see that life had to go on, yet still I had no idea how.
A year from the day that the accident happened my friend Eddy and were talking in our last period class when he said, “dude there’s waves today!” obviously forgetting about my wheelchair. I said to him, “thanks for rubbing it in, Eddy.” So he and I went to the beach just to watch the waves. I may not have known it at the time, but that trip to the beach to watch my peers all enjoy something that I thought I never would again, ended up changing my life. I sat on the sea wall and watched one particular fellow surf sitting down with a paddle in his hand. He caught and surfed waves just as gracefully as anyone else in the water with him. If there was any difference it was that he was catching more waves, surfing them longer, and having more fun. I sat for nearly two hours watching him and waiting for him to come out of the water. I knew that I needed to find out how I could be doing this.
Until next week I leave you with this link, please support Endless Abilities by checking it out and sharing with all you friends and family.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/endlessabilities/endless-abilities
