Dear reader,

You might have seen on social media that I was in New York. What a place. Yes, if you can make it there you can make it anywhere, BUT I DON’T WANT TO MAKE IT THERE! I will make it ELSEWHERE! HAPPILY!

Every time we go, it is chaos wrapped up in a hotel room the size of my closet at home, plus trash, pigeons, and a packed schedule, and listen, if you love it, you love it. No hate at all. And I used to think I would grow up, go to NYU or Columbia - maybe even Juilliard - and I'd be a New Yorker. Now, at the ripe grown up age of 24, I just can’t wait to get back to my home in the TN hills, LOL.

ANYWAY. All jokes aside, we had a good week of traveling. 

We took the whole family, which is always an adventure these days. Our son is at the age where sleep isn’t an option on the plane and all he wants to do is eat the seats, wave at flight attendants, and take the glasses off of the woman sitting behind him, so needless to say, it’s a very relaxing and zen experience for us. ;) 

Every day gets better with him. He’s starting to think about walking, he’s so effervescent and giggly, and I just can’t believe he’s mine. I pinch myself every day.

And because I love him so much, I want to take care of him, which I do with Active Skin Repair. (Y’all, newsletter ad transition?! Who is she?!)

But seriously, this child is upside down, running into things, falling off of things, sticking his hands in things, and at this point, he’s a collage of minor injuries he’s accumulated as he becomes more mobile and Active Skin Repair is our most used item. We spray their baby formula on cuts, scrapes, bug bites, burns, and even diaper rash and it works faster than anything else we have, plus because it’s a spray, I’m not having to get all sticky and pin him down to rub on an ointment when all he wants to do is crawl onto his next adventure. We keep it in our changing table, the car, my diaper bags, and Alex and I have their adult formula, the gel, and the sunscreen in our own first-aid/bathroom kits.

Truly, check them out. You will love the products. Use code BRETT for 20% off!

They’re amazing partners, and shout out to them for sponsoring this newsletter!

OK! Ad break over, NOW ONTO SOME STORIES!

The Rollerskating, Wheelchair Using Gymnast

Guys, the disabled community is really shattering the glass ceiling every day. A few months ago, there was a legless, armless man who somehow shot his friend WHILE driving a car, and now, we have a wheelchair-using girl who is somehow also a gymnast and a roller skater?? 

Or maybe she’s not…

Ok so, what I'm talking about has to do with a TikTok video that went viral on X this week. It is a girl showing what she does when the elevator - AKA the lift - isn’t available at her train stop. Public transport workers come out to help her, they bring out the mobile wheelchair lift, they try all sorts of things, and then the twist is at the end. Watch how she gets up the stairs.

@zeezee25

i’m honestly impressed with the amount of options they had 😂😭 even if none of them worked for me 🤦🏻‍♀️ this is a pretty common experience ... See more

Obviously, the entire world was shocked. We all let out an audible, get the F out of here!

And this was exacerbated even more when someone went onto her social media and found videos of her doing GYMNASTICS.

So then this became a conversation about victim status. Young people clinging onto diagnoses and disabilities for attention - and often community - when much of it is overblown. Allegedly, like this.

But when I went further back onto the girl’s social media, I realized that she had been doing gymnastics as a hobby before her chronic illness symptoms began. And when she would post “recent” clips of her tumbling, it was usually part of her sharing her story and showing how much had changed.

Now this still doesn’t excuse having a train employee do all that work just for her to get up and be able to WALK up the stairs, but I had more empathy and I thought, this is just the internet judging and moving too fast.

But then, BUT THEN! I accidentally clicked on a RECENT video of hers… where she was ROLLER SKATING!!

@zeezee25

from wheelchair to rollerskates 🥹 when i got sick again 2 years ago, i thought i wouldn’t be able to skate again, but here we are?!!! this... See more

Suddenly, I was back to square one.

Obviously, there are wheelchair users who are still mobile and ambulatory, but in a time when people over exaggerate and self diagnose illnesses in order to garner status and attention, it makes sense why people online - like myself - were instantly skeptical.

Alright, it’s bedtime and a screeching baby (almost toddler!) is begging for my attention, so the rest of the stories will just have to be videos. ;)

See you on Youtube!

BC