Florida Day 1:
After a an hour and a half drive to the airport, three layovers, and having to walk from one end of an airport to the other twice I have finally made it to my destination in Florida.
For the next two weeks I will be staying here in Satellite Beach to train once again with the Canadian Paracanoe/Kayak team. Last year when I crashed their camp I learned so much and had a great time, so I thought why not do it again. So here I am.
Today was the first day on the water for me since.. maybe August? So needless to day I was a little nervous. Not about having bad technique, but about loosing my balance and ending up in the water with the plethora of manatees swimming around.  I may be the only human terrified of manatees. I just think that is something far to large to be swimming next to me.

(some might think of this as a cute moment, I think of this as have a panic attack) 

All in all, today went fairly well. I think over these past few months of being in the ice castle we call Michigan, I have almost forgot how much I loved being in a boat. We arrived at the doc around 9:15, made a few alterations to the boat, and were in the water by 9:30. My first few stokes off the doc were a little rough, but once I found my rhythm it just felt natural. The schedule for today's practice was ten two minutes on, then one minute rest. We started with our warm up run up the canal and then made our way to the open waters of the river to finish the day off. The river was a little more choppy due to wind conditions and motor boats passing by, which I just thought made it a little more exciting.
On our way in we were joined by three dolphins. It was kinda cool I guess. I mean whatever..
We have the rest of the day off now. And since this was my first day on the water in so long I am very glad, I don't want to over do it to soon. I mean I'll save that for tomorrow.
The rest of my day will now consist of me laying in the grass outside reading and taking in the beautiful 70 degree weather while I can.

Today was a good day.

Today my dad and I reminisced over my unique stories of growing up as a disabled child. My favorite so far happened when we were on vacation when I was quite young. While in a museum, a fellow young vacationer, who belonged to a family that had be extremely obnoxious and rude the entire tour, came up to me and in a very crude way yelled "Whats wrong with that girls' leg?!" (Now to give him some credit, I was wearing a new leg that was still under construction, so the top was clear). This lovely childs parents decided to play the 'pretend we didn't hear that' card, so my dad being the understanding guy he is, asked if he had any questions. The kid proceeded to ask the same question with discuss in his voice and pointed for dramatic effect. My dad's response, in the most nonchalant way possible, "Oh! It's just not painted yet."

This just reminds me how lucky I am to have the parents I have. They not only helped me gain the confidence to walk with my gimp limp, but also the wit to deal with the world around me.