In Kelly’s Words – Spring! The cure for cabin fever….

I’ve recently felt like I’ve had cabin fever. As the weather warms up, all I want to do is get outside! That’s not to say I haven’t been active this winter, I’ve done a bunch of skiing, including my first real powder day since my injury just a few weekends ago (which was extremely challenging but still a ton of fun).

But as my daughter Dylan gets older and more mobile I’m getting more excited about finding things outside to do with her. At Inspire!Boston on March 30 (full recap here), we showed this video about a grant recipient and mother named Amber, which got me even more excited about doing things with Dylan. Amber (who was actually my roommate while I was first in rehab after my accident) has such a great attitude and I’m so excited that we were able to help her get out with her kids – it’s inspiring to me!

As the thermometer hit 60 degrees today in Vermont it really started to feel like spring. I plugged my golf cart in for the first time this season, looking forward to both getting on the golf course but also using the golf cart (which is really more like a power wheelchair that stands me up so I can swing a golf club) to go on some terrain that I can’t easily go with my regular wheelchair. The roads were filled with bikers and I got anxious to dust off the cobwebs and get back out on my handcycle – less than 5 months until the Kelly Brush Ride!

A NEW activity I’m excited to try is off-road handcycling. This is a sport that has grown a ton over the last 5-7 years. It started with a few guys making these machines in their garage and has turned into an incredibly popular sport. Technology! It allows you to mountain bike or “hike” in places you couldn’t get with a regular wheelchair or a normal road handcycle. My hope is I could use this while Zeke walked with Dylan – I’m fully anticipating that going up I’ll probably be going walking pace!

I’m trying an off-road handcycle this week with Vermont Adaptive (along with our awesome intern, Keenan, a recent C7 injury) to see if it’s something I’d like to get more into. I tried it once, but it was a model that didn’t work well for me and it was in the first 2 months after I gave birth to Dylan, so I’m not counting that one….

I still have the last of the money raised by the Middlebury Ski Team at the first Kelly Brush Ride in 2006 for me to spend on adaptive sports, so I’m considering using it for the off-road. For anyone that doesn’t know the story, the very first Kelly Brush Ride was planned by the Middlebury Ski Team (my teammates at the time of my injury) to raise money for me to buy adaptive sports equipment. They set a goal of about $10,000 to buy me a monoski so I could get back on the mountain with them. They ended up raising $60,000, money I’m still using to purchase adaptive sports equipment today! I couldn’t be more grateful!

Being active is a huge part of my life and the change of a season always gets me excited about the activities I haven’t done in a long time. Now I can find ways to get Dylan involved which will make it even more fun!

Dylan update:

Dylan turns 1 year-old in just 2 weeks! Holy cow (or “jeesum crow” now that I’m back in VT)! I can’t believe she is already a year old. Thinking back on a time before we had her feels like forever ago, but time is starting to go fast. Our biggest struggle with her these days is eating. She will eat pureed foods but doesn’t want to eat food that has texture. The one thing we’ve gotten her to eat consistently is cheese, we’ve tried a ton of other foods but she’s just not into it. I’m sure like with many things, we just have to keep trying! I’m planning to make a cake for her birthday, I’m excited to see her level of interest when she tastes that! If she’s anything like her mom she’ll love the sweets!