"Team Friendship" is the official running team of "Friendship Circle International" and enables local branches of Friendship Circle to raise money and promote acceptance for children and adults with special needs on a GRAND scale. Friendship Circle is dedicated to creating long-lasting, genuine friendships between children and teens with special needs and typical teenage peers. But more than that, Friendship Circle fosters a new way of thinking among teens, families, and communities.

Last year I "joined" the team as part of the "cheering squad" and I watched and cheered our Team Friendship runners in the 2010 NYC Marathon. Standing in the 20 degree weather at mile marker 20-something I saw people of all abilities run, walk, hand-cycle, and crawl by (not literally). It was an incredible experience!

But of all the people I saw, there were a few which really amazed me:

1) The guy dressed as a UPS man fully outfitted in the brown uniform (down to the socks :-)) running with a box under his arm!

2) The guy in a wheel chair who was being pushed by volunteers from the Achilles Team

3) The guy who was running with not one, but 2 prosthetic legs! Not only that, he was running so fast we couldn't catch up to take a picture! 

They got me thinking:

1) We ALL come with a "package" but some of us tend to "COD" - "Cease On Delivery" and let our "baggage" get in the way of where we want to go. Others, like the UPS guy, "take it and run with it!"

2) Life rarely shows us "the full picture". When I saw the guy in the wheelchair, he was being pushed, but I know he had wheeled himself for 20 something miles before I saw him. I missed the chance to see his abilities and  was being shown his limitations instead. I knew to see beyond that, but some people don't. I also saw the dedication of two volunteers who had jogged/walked for 20 something miles, in case they were needed for backup, but they were there all along supporting his own ability.

3) If a man with no legs of his own can run 26.2 miles, then certainly I, who have two, Thank G-d, have no excuse!

So, I'M IN! Are you?!?