Life Without Legs

When you are dealing with a life-changing event such as this, you have to laugh, or else you spend a great deal of time crying. Every day is a constant struggle to maintain an optimistic attitude and seek out the positive aspects of your life. I have learned not to be afraid to try something because I might fail. We learn by our failures and our mistakes. And those of us who try to do something and fail are infinitely better off than those who try to do nothing.

Three years ago I received a letter from a gentleman in South Dakota who read about my circumstances in an article in my community newspaper. His letter concluded with the following comment: "Sometimes we are so busy adding up our troubles that we forget to count our blessings. Sorrow looks behind. Worry looks around. Faith looks up." My life will go on, and I will make the best of this hand that I have been dealt.

And the next time I go golfing with Checko, he'd better give me strokes.

Thomas Garber lives in Centreville, Va.

© 2007