I met a new friend last week.
He stopped to help after I took a bit of a tumble while avoiding a careless driver. The details aren’t important. What matters is the conversation that happened while we waited for reinforcements.
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First, a small chuckle. Jerry’s a volunteer firefighter. When he helped me back onto the bike, I noticed a look of concern. I asked what was wrong…he noticed my legs weren’t moving. He was afraid moving me created further injury.
Imagine Jerry’s “relief” when I told him I’m a quadriplegic. I assured him – everything that worked before was still working. (It’s okay to laugh. We did!)
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As we talked, I discovered Jerry was going through some stuff. He was headed up the canyon to fish and clear his head. He and I shared a tendency to joke about and minimize our pain. I pointed that out, and for some reason, on the side of the road between two strangers, things got pretty real for a few minutes.
He asked me about my injury and my bike. I told a small bit of the story and he said, “Man, you’ve come a long way.”
“So have you.”
He looked confused, so I asked him to think through the story he told me. “All you see is the crud of right now and a future that seems impossible. I get it. It stinks.
“But you just smiled while you told me, in the middle of the crud, all kinds of fun stuff about your kids and your family. So I’m just saying we’re a lot alike – we’ve both come a long way.”
We didn’t get much further. No magic roadside revelation that fixed everything. Reinforcements showed up, and we were on our way.
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As I rolled down the canyon I thought about our conversation and how my story encourages others – and me, if I’m honest. I think about 41,000 miles, the tours, the friends, the kids at the Home of Hope, and I get inspired.
Then I think about the pain of right now, about the uncertainty of doing more years in a wheelchair, and I want to quit. And I wonder…
How often do people give up because they focus on how far they have to go, and forget how far they came?
I’ve come a long way. So have you. Let’s help each other remember.