Yesterday my husband & I attended the Saint Anthony Dinner Theatre for the first time ever. A friend of ours said he had two extra tickets & asked my husband if we would like to go. Since we’ve never been, my husband said yes, we got Grandma & Grandpa to watch the kiddos, we got all spiffed up & we went. A date afternoon if you will. And an excellent one at that. The show was heart felt & just what the world needed at this exact moment. The company was wonderful because we sat with friends. And it was kind of nice to actually get dressed up with somewhere to go with no kids attached to the hip. And since I normally look like a Hobo Joe on Sunday’s, I decided to put the 15 minutes it took to apply makeup this afternoon to good use when we got home & take some individual pictures for some posts here on my page. And I’m pretty happy with them considering I just took them on my phone. But as I was shuffling through them, I kind of got hit with something from this particular picture. I look like a normal, 2 legged, 27 year old mom in this picture.

I’m serious. If you did not know me in real life, did not follow me on my page, & this photo just popped up as you were scrolling through your Facebook News Feed this morning, “amputee” would probably not even cross your mind. And 4 1/2 years ago, visually, that was the goal. I wanted a prosthetic so I could look like I had 2 legs while wearing pants. I invested in a boat load of maxi dresses because floor length was now my very best friend. And I just wanted to hide the fact that I had one leg to the naked eye. Fast forward to today, I only hope “amputee” isn’t your first thought when you talk to me on the phone or when I am sitting behind a desk. Heck, I hope it’s not your first thought when we make small talk at the grocery store. Instead I hope I radiate a person you would like to get to know. A person that works hard & is nice & is kind & is funny. I do not hide my amputation, but I also do not flaunt in. I don’t want it to be your first impression of me. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me because of my situation. I want you to be inspired by me. I want you to be proud of the person I chose to become because let’s face it, I had a lot of options in the route I could have taken post amputation, with not all of them being “write home” worthy. And I definitely want you to know that there is a lot of ways to hide a lot of different things but the real question is, why are you hiding it for? And remember, “because it’s none of your business” is a valid response here…

I used to tell people during my talks that I always strive for the phrase “behind the desk you’ll never know” to be true. Because that means, as far as you know, I could have one leg or two legs or ten legs sitting under that desk but that isn’t stopping me from completing promises or jobs for work or activities with my kids. And that is the important stuff that I want people to see about me. Sure, I know the whole one leg thing probably is going to stand out almost every time. But I want it to just be a small detail when you’re trying to describe me. So small that people hardly remember it when you get to the end of whatever story you’re telling that I am in. So today I want you think about what you want people to notice most about you & to realize you have more power than you think when it comes to you being you. I mean come on, I have one flipping leg, an amputation all the way up to my hip, and I was able to make it not be the first thing you notice in a freaking photo. A pretty difficult accomplishment unless you’re wearing a maxi dress, but not impossible. So whatever you want people to remember most about you, make it stand out. For me I want it to be my personality & go get’em spirit. How about you?

#TheOneLeggedMommy #Amputee #OpticalIllusion #NecrotizingFasciitis #Kind #Nice #Funny #BehindTheDesk #HowAboutYou #MakeItHappen #FirstImpressions