Speed Racer

Today was Quinn's 1st Pine Wood Derby. He and Jim have been fashioning a raceable item out of a block of wood for the last 2 months. There was much cutting, sanding, painting, weighing, gluing and weighing again before the big day. He was insistent that it look just like Jim's Pine Wood Derby car from 1981. After loosing in the very 1st heat, he was able to muster out a 4th place overall finish out of 50 cars in the end. When asked what the best part of the day was, Quinn responded, "Winning the 2 races and next year I am going to make my car with metal topping!". Go figure.

Big Day

Today, it has been 5 months since I fell off my bike. Prior to the accident, I had decided I would not play my instrument anymore because of the problems it was causing with my jaw. This was a very hard decision and after playing for 25yrs. It was very much like a death for me. I was surprised at how sad I was about it. Once I fell off my bike, I was sure I would never play again but this time it wasn't my choice, it was decided for me and I didn't like. I talked to a few people who had some good suggestions on how to make playing not cause problems with my jaw SO once I got to the point in my occupational therapy where I could function with my arm on a daily basis I started looking towards playing again.

When I got my cast off mid-September, I could not flip my palm up at all and by December I had only made it slightly further. After 5 long months of a LOT of OT (including "the rack" pictured below) I finally had the courage to pick up my instrument and give it a try.  The VIDEO (click here)is the result. This is a big achievement for me and something I was not sure was possible.Maybe the accident forced me to realize that I do love playing my violin enough to find a way to make it work.

I am still not finished getting my arm back completely but I am getting closer everyday. I am hopeful that this instrument, which is so much of who I am, will help me along the way.