Exciting news
I had a whole blog lined up for today to update you about all things Colorado (hiking, wildlife, altitude, etc.), but yesterday afternoon we got some REALLY exciting news that deserves to be celebrated.
With an announcement from US Paralympic Snowboarding Team yesterday,
Joe made it to the 2019-2020 US Paralympic Snowboarding National Team.
I think we’re both still in shock, honestly. This is what Joe, and me, have been working towards for the past few years.
Photo by Luc Percival
For so long it just seemed like this far off dream. I would imagine how I would react when he made it, how I would feel. And now it’s all still sinking in.
Even moving out here to Colorado, well especially moving out here, we both questioned EVERYTHING. There were moments along the trip where we both were like, what the heck did we just do? Was this the right choice? Did we just throw away our amazing lives in Virginia for nothing? There was so much uncertainty.
But this latest announcement made everything feel….worth it. Validated even. Like all these decisions we’ve made up to this point landed us exactly where we were supposed to be. And I won’t lie, it feels really good.
Joe still has a big season of work and strengthening ahead of him to keep moving up, but this definitely reignites that spark to make both of us feel ready to keep up the work we’ve been putting into it. We’re ready for this next season, especially because we finally get to do it together from Colorado, and not 2000 miles apart.
And of course, we couldn’t have gotten this far without the help of our families, friends, sponsors (Iomaxis & RPI Group) and Joe’s team Adaptive Action Sports. It takes a village and we could not have done it by ourselves. Their support, training and help have brought us to where we are today and words can’t express how thankful we are for them.
To read more about the announcement (and even dig around a little bit to learn more about it), check out the actual press release.
To learn more about Joe’s amputation and journey, check out Joe’s website by clicking the button below.