Hey! Hope you had a GREAT weekend, we sure did! The Derting threesome spent a lot of quality time together this weekend and made lots of memorable moments that won't soon be forgotten. My blonde boy transformed into a howling, hairy werewolf for 2 nights in a row! We had planned on only dressing him up Saturday night, but like always we didn't accomplish everything and every place that we had hoped to, so we did it again Sunday night too! I made his costume and Brooks did his hair and make-up so it was a family affair to create the scary wolf. We decided to go to the Statesville Mall on Saturday night and they had a Halloween Costume Contest, so of course we entered him. We were all proud that Bryson went on stage by himself and actually stayed up there without either of us and it paid off because he took 1st place out of 37 kiddos!! He was proud and excited that he got a trophy! We visited MANY friends and family both nights and took lots of pictures to treasure his 5th Halloween forever!
The past two days I have been in Greensboro attending the annual NC Exceptional Children's Conference.....I have commuted both days, which is a story in itself. Monday morning I left around 7:30 hoping to beat the traffic and make it in about an hour.......well it took me till 9:45 due to an accident in Winston that was cleaned up by the time that I finally got through. So I missed the 1st session at the Conference, but made it in time for the opening session. Each year they try and have an encouraging motivational speaker or teacher of excellence speak to kick off the event in a positive way. For instance one year it was Clay Aiken (the year after his American Idol run) because (not sure if you know) he was a Special Ed major at UNCC and I actually worked with him on a project once. But all of that is beside the point.......yesterday they started out with a man, who is an artist and he explained that he has ADD and how it has affected his life in many ways and has inspired him to be the artist that he is. His speech was short and he looked down the whole time and I felt bad for him because he stated that public speaking was not his thing, so I was confused that he was the opening speaker and that his speech was less than 5 minutes. After he spoke June Atkinson (I think that is right), EC Director for the state, introduced a lady from NJ, which again I thought was weird because it is usually someone from NC. She introduced Sara......
Sara came on stage with a hobble and a speech impediment and began explaining that she was diagnosed with CP (cerebral palsy) at the age of 4. She was very energetic, well spoken, and fearless. It was obvious that speaking was difficult for her as well as walking, but she spoke for about 30 minutes and paced the stage the whole time. She told many stories about her life and how she has made a career out of her disability. She referred to her life as a puzzle. The pieces were held together with glue, which was her mother. Sara knew from an early age that she could do anything that she set her mind to because her mother always told her that CP could not hold her back from her dreams. There were many pieces to her puzzle and many challenges that she has faced in her life, but she has always been able to focus on the positives. In high school she was "mainstreamed" which she said was a nightmare, but it also helped her realize her dreams. She wasn't the ideal student and in the beginning refused to work and even put forth effort because "she was too busy trying to fit in". She had a teacher, that she now sees on a regular basis, that refused to give up on her and refused to let her give up on herself. The teacher was finally able to MAKE her journal one day in class and Sara LOVED it once she gave in. Sara was Puerto Rican, so dancing was part of her culture although it was very difficult for her. Her mother forced her to dance as her teacher had forced her to journal......she now refers to dancing as freedom for her body and writing as freedom for her mind!!! I love this.....swimming and running are my bodies freedom and blogging is my minds freedom!!!! You should find your FREEDOMS!!!!!!
Sara ended her amazing speech with a challenge.....she challenged everyone to recognize their dreams and reach for them, don't give up and don't give in....you are the only one that can make your dreams come true.....have expectations for you and others around you (for teachers, have and hold expectations for your students, as Sara's teacher did for her)....expect great things and work towards them, just like dreams you are the only one that can make it happen......finally, encourage independence....independent people are strong and depend on themselves not on others.....at the end of the day you are the only one that can take responsibility for your actions, you can not pawn them off on someone else!! Sara was a great speaker full of life even though it is much more difficult for her than me to do ordinary, daily activities. She has never let herself be sad because of her CP!! What an inspiration she is, I wish you could have seen and heard her speak because she was amazing and she has many more challenges daily than I have every had in my life! So I took away motivation and inspiration from her and her life!!!
So now I am home from the Conference and I got to eat out 2 days in a row like big girls do and it has been fun and rejuvenating! The rest of the week looks busy, with a conference soccer game for West, Bryson's soccer party, date night and...........the dreaded.........5k that I signed myself up for on Saturday morning! I am regretting this decision as the day draws closer....for a couple of reasons: 1) I have not trained like I should have! 2) the temperature is predicted to be 28 degrees Saturday morning, but I am hopeful that my body is definitely rested (so that may help) and that the weatherman is WRONG about the temperature! AND THEN next week is my trip with mom to the BAHAMAS!!!!! I am getting EXCITED!!!!
Hope you are having a GREAT week and I hope you exercised your right to VOTE.....I will shortly! Enjoy the cooler weather and think about Sara's challenges :) Love you!! Alysha
