by Brandon Reed

The Monday Sweet Spot – 02/15/2016

We’ve all hit that point during a smoke, usually about half way through, in which the cigar’s flavors and aromas open up and transform the experience into something far more rich, complex, and enjoyable.

In this moment, gentlemen, you’ve hit the “sweet spot”.

A moment that encourages you to open your senses, and to truly appreciate the experience that the smoke has ushered you into.

In the same way, it’s important to take time in our lives to slow down, and open our senses to the world around us. To take notice of the good things going on and the good people doing them.

These are life’s “sweet spots”, and your Monday could use one…

Wheelchair Turns Boy With Cerebral Palsy Into Skate Park Superstar

“That was great!” he gleefully cried as his dad, Jared Edmunds, pushes him up and down ramps. “That was fantastic! That was crazy!”

Tresa Edmunds, Atticus’ mom, who blogs about her family, their health issues and creative solutions at ReeseDixon.com, is the one who recorded and uploaded the video to her YouTube channel. She says she is absolutely delighted that the video has gone viral.

“It’s so exciting for me, because as his mom — as his advocate — my goal is to make room in the world for him and to get people to see him as a kid first and the chair second,” she told CBS Sacramento.

A photo posted by Tresa Edmunds (@reesedixon) on

Buzzfeed reports that when Tresa was pregnant with Atticus, she developed a complication called HELLP syndrome, which led her to an early birth at just 27 weeks. Due to the early delivery, Atticus weighed only 2 pounds and 3 ounces when he was born. He soon developed cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that limits muscle strength and coordination, and he needs a wheelchair to get around.

Despite Atticus’ love of singing Katy Perry songs on YouTube, the condition has made Atticus a boy of few words. So, he like to gets his thrills in another way.

“There has never been a roller coaster too fast or a swing too high for Atticus,” Jared told Today.com. “He can be a little daredevil when he wants to be.”

So, when the family caught wind of another rad dad who pushed his son in a wheelchair through a skate park, they “dropped everything and loaded up the car,” Jared told Today.com.

After Atticus’ first romp on the ramps in early January, he was hooked. The family has been visiting the skate park ever since. So much so, that Tresa told CBS that she has since gotten her son some skating gear, including a helmet, to keep him safe.

Good thing, too, because he had his first wipeout last Saturday.

Thankfully, it was just a fall and nothing serious.

“He got spooked, but he decided he was a skater and skaters get back up,” Tresa wrote on Facebook.

The other kids at have even began to cheer him on and give him high-fives. In fact, Today reports that when one of his wheels popped off his chair the other day, a kid yelled: “Ride until the wheels fly off, Atticus!”

Seems like Tresa’s dream that Atticus would be seen as just one of the kids has finally come true.

This article was originally posted on huffingtonpost.com.

Brandon Reed
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