Soul Champions

"Imagine the one thing you love to do the most. Now imagine, out of nowhere, something happens and you realize you many never be able to do it again. How do you feel? Sad? Angry? Shell-shocked? For me, the answer was all of the above." - Bethany Hamilton

Rebecca Bross *update*

Rebecca Bross had surgery August 25th to reset and re-stabilize her right kneecap. She is expected to be out for 2 months and then back to the gym! (Rebecca was injured on vault during night 2 at the Visa Championships 2011)

GET WELL SOON! WE LOVE YOU! xoxo

SOUL SURFER

So I haven't updated in forever - and since I am stuck inside because of Hurricane Irene and since I still have power, I thought now's as good a time as any! :)

After I started dancing in January, things were going well...my knee was still hurting but getting stronger every day. Then summer came and with it, pain in my back. After having Xrays and an MRI, I found out I have some minor tears, bulges and herniated discs. So back to intensive PT I went where I upped the exercises for my knee and back. Things started to get better until a few weeks ago where I couldn't go from sitting to standing without sharp pain in my non-surgical knee. So for the past 2 weeks I've been going to trigger point therapy. It's been painful and bruising but it's helping. 

So, I continue to be grateful for every single day I get to dance and I'm grateful for all the possibilities that lie ahead. The storm this weekend has left me, and thousands of others, basically stranded at home with no MTA service and no open stores, so it has forced me to rest. So, for the first time in (who knows) how long, I ordered a movie on demand. 

If you want to watch an unbelievably inspiring story, go see SOUL SURFER. It is my new favorite movie, and applies to anyone out there who has a passion that no matter what happens to you, you will never stop doing what you love. 

These quotes from the movie basically say it all for me - while I didn't lose a limb last summer, I can relate with the knee surgery and everything that went along with it:

"I don't need easy, I just need possible"

"I wouldn't change what happened to me because then I wouldnt have this chance in front of all of you - this chance to embrace more people than I ever could have with two arms"

"I was born to surf. This is why I wake up at the crack of dawn every day. This is why I endure belly rashes, reef cuts, muscle so tired they feel like needles... and I've learned that life is a lot like surfing. When you get caught in the impact zone, you need to get right back up because you never know what's over the next wave. And if you have faith, anything is possible... anything at all."

"The end.....is just the beginning"

RebeccaBross - GET WELL SOON!

Rebecca Bross injures her knee at Nationals - from Universal Sports

Rebecca Bross injured on night two at the VISA Championships 2011. She dislocated her knee cap and hopefully that's all it is. Sending out so much love and prayers and support to her....LOVE YOU REBECCA!

yikes!

i have been SO bad this summer about updating this blog! so much going on....so much to catch up on....but right now i'm off to PT and dance....

‎"If you start to break, keep faith" - Alicia Sacramone

what a difference a year makes....

One year ago, this is what I wrote: 


Life can be unpredictable...60 days ago I never imagined that this is where I'd be right now.... counting down the hours and minutes and seconds until it is time for my knee surgery. I don't really know what else to say right now except that I feel numb. I feel like time has been turned upside down and inside out. But I have faith that it is all going to be ok. I'm still scared. I'm still anxious. But for right now, I have to keep breathing and stay focused on this one moment because in all honesty, that's all any of us can do.


365 days later, here I sit, thankful that tomorrow I will not be hobbling to the hospital. I am so blessed and grateful that I don't need surgery tomorrow and that I'm healing. Instead, I will be spending this anniversary doing PT in my room in the morning, followed by Floor Barre and then my favorite Jazz class with JK. Then more dance in the evening. 
Some things never change. I am still doing PT, I am still icing, and I am still thankful for every single day I get to walk into the studio and do what I love. 
It's funny what can happen in a year. I am grateful for the lessons learned, and thankful for this second chance to do what I love most in this world....DANCE. Speaking of gratitude, I am grateful for the donor of my new ACL. I am also thankful for the 2 screws holding my new ACL in place. And I'm thankful for the doctor and assistants who got me back to my love.


from an article about gymnast Shawn Johnson who is making her gymnastics comeback after an ACL injury and time off:

Shawn Johnson said yes and she’s glad she did because they talked for an hour, and his words hit home: “You’ll never be what you were in 2008 because you’re not the same person.”

So don’t try. Instead of comparing yourself with that person, compare yourself with the gymnast who could barely perform a common release move on uneven bars a few months ago.

Compare yourself with the gymnast who couldn’t complete a full beam routine a few weeks ago.

Instead of thinking about how far you have to go, 
remember how far you’ve come since stepping back in the gym.

“I was so far away from what an elite gymnast should be,” Johnson says, “but it really helped put things in perspective. I didn’t beat myself up so much after that. Every day I look at the progress I’ve made.”