Sunday, June 12, 2011

Amputee Collation Association (ACA) where I fell in Love

It has been awhile since I posted anything in here. I'm still trying to get a full time teaching job and I am still working at the hotel. But life is actually pretty good right now..actually better than good. :)

Back in January I received an email from some guy who said he read my blog and was also an amputee. I was shocked that he read my blog...I didn't think anyone did. At first I was kind of leery of him, not knowing what to expect from the horrors of the Internet social world. He turned out to be pretty genuine though. I emailed him back and so far we have sent almost 400 emails to each other over the course of five months.

He invited me to the ACA which I had never heard of. I have been an amputee for 18 years now, so I was pretty embarrassed not to know about the Amputee Collation Association and that I wasn't a member. The conference was in June so we though it would be a nice safe place to meet. We continued to write back and forth and eventually started calling each other. Now we talk every night. I was so worried that when we finally met in person he wouldn't like me. (He had similar feelings about me) I was driving up to Kansas City where the conference was being held and he was flying in. I met him at the airport and as soon as he saw me, he gave me a great big hug. We were inseparable after that.

The conference itself was okay. I did learn a lot about different types of prosthetics, feet, and liners. I am seriously having a talk with my prosethist about getting some new liners that are ten times better than the ones I've had. But the main attraction was meeting Chris and learning what a wonderful, caring, generous person he is. We have so many things in common it seems like something you would read out of a fairytale. We both have LBKA and the same alignment for our prosthesis. We both like the same TV shows and movies and have very similar sense of humor. Both of us are very shy and quiet too. I don't think either one of us said more than a handful of words to other amputees the entire three days we were there at the conference. We were just lost in our own world. :)

Now that we are both back home, (him in PA and me in AR) we are back to our routine of emails and phone calls, but now he tells me he loves me before we hang up. He is going to come to my home in September to attend a friend's wedding with me and meet my family. I was thinking of going to see him and his family in December. I may even move out there. The way things are going, I can see that it is a good possibility.

So thank you ACA for existing and having your convention somewhat close to my home. This made it possible to meet a wonderful man and perhaps the person I will spend the rest of my life with...having one-legged races.

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