Get Up On Your Feet

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From the time I was a child, I have loved Gloria Estefan’s music, but as I’ve grown in life and in understanding the lyrics speak to me even more. Get On Your Feet, was part of her Coming Out of the Dark Tour in 1991, the year before an accident with her tourbus had doctors believing she would never walk again, so the fact that she was not only standing, but walking and dancing spoke of a woman of great faith and determination. A few short years after this was released, I’d watch as a cousin stormed away from a family reunion, we went to follow him not understanding in that moment what was happening but my Mom, several other cousins and myself would go to follow him deep,y concerned and with good reason. He’d tell us, not only him but his brother had a Neuromuscular disorder, they were both slowly loosing their ability to walk, i learned in that moment that yes grown men really cry. I began my own battles when I was still in Highschool, but we had no idea what was happening, my condition wasn’t progressing the same way as my cousins but my Aunt Linda, was pretty sure that I had git the gene, and had the condition. For years I battled with doctors, specialists, and even had some tell me that it was all in my head, so my primary care physician as well as my Psychologist sent letters out reprimanding the doctors who said that, assuring him that my condition wasn’t mental but physical. For the first time I felt as if someone was listening. But the worst was a specialist who thought the issue was I needed to wear my feminine shoes, he actually asked me why I hadn’t wore more feminine shoes, first of all at the time I was wearing AFO’s, and if anyone knows anything about AFO’s they don’t work with heels lol, and I was wearing white tennis shoes, with pink trim, and pink laces. But the problem wasn’t the shoes, it was the way he just dismissed me. I’ve had good doctors since them, sadly though the doctor who was my favorite retired a few years ago due to her own battle with health problems. She listened to me, and took my concerns seriously, without dismissing me, and she did more than throw pills at the problem. I decided early on that I wasn’t going to let myself become broken by my battles though. And this kind of has become a theme song of sorts for me