One Step at a Time By Adam Lamy

Curiosity has always been a part of my life. I’ve always sought what I can and can’t do. I tested my body’s physical limit. Whether it be learning to sing and play piano, or solving Rubik's cubes, I have always tried to see what I'm capable of. 

Like most people, I start each day in a pretty typical way. I wake up and hop right into the shower to wash off the dirt from yesterday and get a new, clean start for today. I’ll then do my skincare and hygiene routine, get dressed, and maybe eat a small breakfast before I head on my morning walk to school. This is just how any other kid would wake up, and I am just like any other kid. But, things haven’t always been that easy for me. I was born with a physical disability called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a joint disorder that inhibits movement in my arms. At my birth, I had basically no motor function in my arms. However, after multiple surgeries, years of physical therapy, and the ability to think outside the box to solve problems. I have become independent. For the average person, putting on a shirt seems like a pretty straightforward task. Put your head through the hole, and your arms through the other holes, adjust however you need and it’s on. But for me, like most other tasks, it took me some time. I just had to figure out my own way of doing it. But after I learned that, I learned other basic tasks, I learned to clean myself, to feed myself, to grab things for myself. Curiosity has always been a part of my life. I’ve always sought what I can and can’t do. I tested my body’s physical limit. Whether it be learning to sing and play piano, or solving Rubik’s cubes, I have always tried to see what I’m capable of. 

Though I attempted sports in my early childhood, and in some cases I was quite good, it always felt like there was some cap that I was hitting where there was no way I could improve. Just like that, all the kids got too good, and I had to quit to prevent an injury. It always seemed like there was a limit to how good I could get before my body said “it’s time to stop”. For a period, I felt lost, ostracized from the people I used to feel close to. I spent my days alone, with nothing fulfilling to take up my time. That was until I fell in love with music. I have always sung and enjoyed music on a level that was pretty high for my age. The piano changed everything. This was an entirely new world to jump into, an entirely new skill set, and a very difficult one at that. The thing I loved about it was there was no limit to how good I could get, and there was always something new to learn. I became obsessed. I learned everything about everything, learning all this crazy music theory and concepts just for the sake of learning it because I was interested in the topic.  This was a common thing for me growing up. Whether it be Lego bricks or Rubik’s cubes or whatever little hobby grabbed my attention, I always had to know everything about it. I am a very passionate learner, when I have an interest in something, I will dedicate a lot of time to becoming fluent in it. It was my way of finding my purpose. Even though I was born with a disability, I was still able to learn music. And I got good. I just had to figure out my own way of doing it. My technical knowledge didn’t overpower my physical ability to perform. I am in my school’s choir and in the school musicals. My talents surprise people all the time. How is it that a kid with my disability can play the piano? The truth is I am just like you. I put my shirt on one arm at a time, just as anyone else would.