The July issue of
Mountain Bike magazine arrived. One of the coverlines was: Tara's Second Act. I recognized Tara Llanes picture and turned right to the piece. Tara is a world-famous mountain bike racer. She was spinal cord injured in September of 2007 in a bike crash at the Jeep King of the Mountains series.
This is a wonderful article because of how honest Tara and her friends are in it. They verbalize some things that might be on your mind. It is a must read if you're living with paralysis, have a friend who is, or you just don't know what to say to someone you run into in Starbucks who's in a wheelchair. From the article:
One of the more pervasive changes in Llanes's life involves otherwise
random encounters in public. "If I cruise into a Starbucks," Llanes
says, "they don't see my outfit and think, that's cute. They see me in
a wheelchair. Some people are overly gracious. Some people are like,
holy ***, what do I do? A lot of people automatically think you've got
some mental issue."
Take a few minutes to read this. It will make your day.
Rob
