Shibuya, Japan with USA Wheelchair Rugby

Surprise, I went to Japan!

It was a surprise to me, too. I had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Shibuya, Japan with the USA Wheelchair Rugby team with a stranger as her Personal Care Attendant that I met through a Facebook post. 

Mandy, who I finally met at the airport at 4 am, is Virginia's ONLY Wheelchair Rugby athlete on the national team AND one of only two women on the National Team. A QUEEN!!

We traveled together from RIC to ATL, met up with the rest of Team USA Wheelchair Rugby, and traveled together to Hineda Airport. I joined 12 athletes and 6 other staff members to watch the team compete against Japan and Australia's national teams.

Team USA swept, winning all their games and winning the tournament.  They are on the road for LA 2028! 

I met some incredible athletes and Wheelchair Rugby people, laughed my butt off the whole week, learned so much about adaptive sports, refreshed my nursing school knowledge (and my Kinesiology degree!!) on spinal cord injuries, and was welcomed into a completely new world. And I literally went to Japan!?!? It was 24 hours of travel each way, with 5 full days of classifying and competing...squeezed right into the month of April. 

Feels unreal, but also this is...precisely what I have been asking for and I am so grateful and happy.

Fresh Perspectives

Traveling and being away always gives me a fresh perspective on my life.  I realize how much time I had to read, how present I was during meals...so I'm working hard to slow down, and really enjoy the moment.

Everything is moving quick, and I am often asking myself how much of this is the growing building phase of my business (I did just hire help, switch systems, AND websites, after all) and how much of the craziness is up to me to intentionally make choices to slow down? It has been a hard balance to find and this trip came at a good time.

More to come...