Why standing in spite of myself?

Well, because I am! Ha!
 No, really  at 42 I am "still standing" because despite having been born with Cerebral Palsy I have still   managed to do just about everything I ever wanted to do and more!  Growing up I was surrounded by doubt.  In 1968 when I was brought into this world I was a month early and only 4 pounds.  The doctors told my young parents I had a 50/50 chance of survival!  Three years later when I still could not sit up my mother was informed over the phone that I had Cerebral Palsy and: "What are you going to do about it?"
My poor parents heard the worst from doctors: "He'll be a vegetable, He'll never walk, He'll never be able to function in school or society...."  Nice picture huh?  Despite this plethora of pessimism I prospered!  It was never easy.  I had surgeries, I had braces, crutches, and crash helments!  By the grace of God and a few good doctors-(including my Grandfather: Dr. Arnold R. Tolley D.C.) I did walk! and by the age of eight I did it without crutches or braces, or a crash helmet!  By third grade I was one of the first disabled children to attend a regular Montgomery County  Public School Program.  From then on I experienced pretty much everything your average grade school kid does.  I struggled horriblly with Math. My grades were not the best, I suffered set backs and disapointments: spurnned crushes and pre teen embarrassments...but! I survived! and somehow, I managed to do it with a smile on my face!
I 've had my share of struggles and low points but, life is not a race.  I may have moved slowly at times,but every move was a move forward!
What helped me most I think were the people and friends around me.  My mother never said: "You can't"  My friends just smiled and said: "C'mon!"  Despite those grim early predictions, I graduated from Montgomery College and also Towson State University.  
At an early age weightlifting and bodybuilding did a lot for me.  It gave me focus and with each success came confidence no one can give you.  No one could have guessed that I would go on to rank nationally at the N.P.C. National Wheelchair Bodybuilding Championships in 1997 as the Lt. Heavyweight Champion.  Later, in 1998  I recieved a gold medal at the Paraolympic Powerlifting Team trials in Chicago.
  Shortly after that I married my wife Bonnie who despite being wheelchair bound by M.S. is a successful saxophonist and music teacher with her own business: Bonnieslatersmusic.com.  With Bonnie I have a home in Germantown MD.  We have two daughters, two dogs, two cats, and a fishtank full of fish!
I work for MCPS as a paraeducator in special education. I've done this for the last 12 years.  I feel like I'm giving something back!  I'm not really lifting anymore, but I did my thing and proved that I could do it well.  What do I want to do now?  Now I want to write! So thats my new personal goal...write something and publish it for real!
So, Hows that for someone who "they" said might not make it?  Not too bad