The gift of friendship near and far

It's pretty amazing how many connections we have made from the limb difference world thanks to Born Just Right. This summer, our travel gave us opportunities to meet many new adults and children in the limb difference world. A combination of Camp No Limits, Nubability Camp and a trip to California where we held two meet ups means a whole lot of new faces and names. Being a part of the special needs world makes an instant connection between kids and their parents. The adults with limb differences have also made a big difference for me and the other parents who have had a chance to talk with them. (I've written in the past how important it is to talk to adults with limb differences.)Thanks to our California gatherings, another mom reached out to me and we were able to have her daughter meet Jordan while we were in Kansas City. Another sweet opportunity for kids and parents to connect.There are so many reasons to find ways to take our online world into the real world. Some of our recent awesome moments included:Sharing how to tie shoes with one handEach time we met up with families, the topic of tying shoes came up. Jordan was lucky to show off her skills while we were in Santa Cruz. The coolest part is how confident Jordan has gotten at tying and how she's able to talk through the process. I should probably create an updated video on how she does it so more kids can learn.

Learning more about e-NABLE 3D printed hands

John Wong was born with a hand difference and he brought TWO different e-NABLE hands with him to share with the group. The Cyborg Beast (the blue hand you can see in the picture above) was made for John by Nick Parker and debuted it at the Crowd Companies Summit in May 2014. John had also just gotten a FidoHand, made by Dan Bodner, who is also an e-NABLE member. John tried out the hand with Cameron while they pretended to fake 3D hand fight. (That had a lot of people staring at us on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk!)We also had a change to see an iLimb in action (Thanks, Carly!) during our meet up in Monterey the next day. I love how we got to experience the full spectrum of prosthetics within 48 hours.

A surprise limb difference meeting While I was attending and speaking at the BlogHer national conference, I had a bunch of friends let me know I *had* to meet Samantha from Airplane Rides and Guac Sides. She was in a terrible crash when she was a kid and lost a lot of her right arm when she was a kid. Of course, when someone sees a limb difference, they immediately want to connect me. And I think that's AWESOME. Because watching Jordan get the chance to hang out with Sam made me very happy.

Gaining unexpected lessonsJordan had a chance to get tips on one-handed cartwheels. (She hasn't perfected them yet.) We also learned a new way to create a one-handed pony-tail... Basically you twist it into a bun and slide the rubber band that's around your hand down over the bun. I wish I had shot video of it! We'll shoot a video once Jordan has figured out this technique.

Getting through the logistics and finally meetingGetting a crew of families to meet up can be a logistical mess. I made it extra challenging in Santa Cruz because getting in and out of the area can be tricky thanks to so many tourists. But we had a wonderful group. We enjoyed rides, games, and ice cream. The next day, a few of us met in Monterey at the Aquarium. I've had big and small meet ups... and each and every time, it's totally woth it.

Thank you to the many people who took the time to meet with us this summer. Really, thank you to anyone who met up with us at any time in the last eight and a half years. It's always awesome to take these online conversations in person.