REMEMBER WHEN?
Hey, Moebius persons, remember Phys Ed class back in high school or junior high?  I love sports, actually; especially football, baseball, basketball...but I was never a good athlete.  Were you?  Having Moebius can make being physically coordinated difficult, plus sometimes we suffer from low muscle tone.  But here's some good news, maybe--in the Washington DC area, educators are changing how they do PE:
"This is Hawkins's health and physical education class, but it's not the PE that these preschoolers' parents probably remember. The days of students fretting over being the last one picked during volleyball or the first one tagged in dodge ball are fading in many D.C. area schools as physical education classes, such as this one, focus more on individual fitness, personal growth and development.   "The trend is to move away from competitiveness," Hawkins says. When his preschoolers' class is over, Hawkins shifts his attention to his next class, eighth-graders. Beginning with a tutorial on aerobics, Hawkins asks what muscles each activity works, and he and the kids go through a list. When the students overlook the central one, he drops a hint: "It's been beating since before you were born."   The students bound into step aerobics and then begin a game of "softball," a batless version with no teams and a small, yellow rubber ball."

I certainly remember being picked last.  This could be a good trend.  And it highlights an important thing--yes, being a good athlete isn't the easiest thing in the world for us.  But we can still exercise and build up our bodies.  And we should.  I do sit-ups every day, and use hand weights.  They help me and my muscle tone, and speed up my metabolism.  You can do it, too.

And hey, the NY Times reports today that exercise may help moderate any anger you're feeling, too.

INSPIRATION OF THE DAY:
Read the story of Aidan, from Ireland, an adult with Moebius Syndrome, who has many, many accomplishments.

Aidan writes: "One of the things that was always instilled in me as a child was not to let my disability hold me back and I've pretty much stuck to this ever since, always relentless in obtaining or achieving a goal that I set for myself."  Amen!

"...I began to talk about my face.  When I began to perform, I became part of a community of performers with disabilities.  Slowly I stopped pretending to be normal and began to accept myself the way I was...We do not try to change people by having them conform to an ideal.  We try to accept people as they are.  We adjust our beliefs and practices to conform to the reality of being human."--David Roche, THE CHURCH OF 80% SINCERITY.

That's just it--we shouldn't let any part of us, what we have, who we are, hold us back.  At the same time, we shouldn't be afraid to talk about it, to express ourselves, to discuss our successes, our frustrations, our difficulties.  Sometimes in the past I think there have been those who worried that talking too much about Moebius Syndrome, or a facial difference, or any physical condition one might have, meant one would allow it to stop you, to woe-is-me thinking, to make it a crutch that explains why you haven't done something.  But talking about it doesn't have to mean that at all.  Rather, it can be part of what leads us to success.