#OneArmProbs

In honor of Facebook finally allowing hash tags, I figured I would share a couple of our favorites. Porter and I, for some reason, think it is hilarious to verbalize hash tags in awkward situations. When something funny happens to Porter, it is generally #onearmprobs and for me it is #onearmwifeprobs. Here are a couple of our favorite #'s.

Wedding Dance:

Instead of doing a traditional (or in my eyes boring) first dance at our wedding reception, Porter and I decided to spice it up a bit. It started out with Brad Paisley's song "Then," but was quickly remixed into something magical. When we were trying to figure out what songs to include in our remix, we tried to pick songs that had funny dances associated with them, for example: the chicken dance, crank that, etc. My sister was helping us with it, and she made a suggestion.

Ry: "How about the Macarena."
Me: "Oh yeah, great idea."
Porter: sitting quietly.
Me: "What about the Macarena, Port?"
Porter: "Yeah we can do that, I just will only be able to do half of the dance."
*Awkward silence as Rylee and I realize that the Macarana is a dance that straight up takes two arms.*
Ry: "Well then, Car can do the right arm and you do the left!"
Brilliant. But it still warrants #onearmprobs.

The Pit of DOOM:

If you haven't ever seen Porter in a tank top, then it may be difficult to visualize this. Porter has part of his shoulder, but then it is a clean cut from there. He still has an arm pit, just no arm to cover it. Unfortunately for me, I'm a little vertically challenged so my face is level with that uncovered arm pit.

At his swim meet this past weekend, Porter was either shirtless from having just got out of the pool, or sporting a tank top to cover up until his next race, which means that sweaty arm pit was constantly exposed. I was trying to show Porter something, when he stepped in close to me.

Then it happened.

That nasty pit came straight for my face at the exact moment I was trying to tell him something. Yes, pit sweat dripped right into my mouth. We decided the moment was worthy of this: #onearmwifeprobs.

On a little more serious note, Porter competed in a Paralympic swim meet this past weekend at the Olympic Training Center down in Colorado Springs. It was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed. There were people there who were blind. Several more (if not the majority) were in wheel chairs. There were even a couple of athletes that didn't have ANY limbs at all. I don't know about you, but I would never even get near a pool if I didn't have arms or legs to help me swim.

(The ribbon is red, but the medal is for taking first in his classification)

At one point, I was trying to film Porter's race from behind the starting blocks, so I was standing on the pool deck. It had been an awesome, but exhausting weekend. I was tired, and it was Porter's last race, so I figured I could suck it up for a little bit longer. I then saw a little girl there who could not use her arms talking to another girl in a wheelchair. They were congratulating one another for their performances in their race when the girl in the wheelchair said, "We are so lucky to get to swim here! How awesome is this?"

I'm not an emotional person, like at all, but I almost started to tear up. Here I was feeling a little "tired" from watching a swim meet and these two girls who had severe physical limitations were dawning smiles and expressing their appreciation for being able to compete.

You would think after being married to someone who has had to overcome physical obstacles that I would appreciate having a healthy body, but I realized this weekend that I could do better.

These athletes didn't make excuses, which is why I think even they deserve a hash tag in honor of their stellar attitudes: #justdoit

Until next time,

Carlie