What does it mean to have CP?

I used to get asked about having CP all the time when I was a kid and it would really make me uncomfortable. I didn't want CP to define who I was. I wanted to be Tara... a girl who liked to sing and watch horror movies and read and who also happened to have CP. I wanted it to be an after thought, because to me it always was. I would remember when I would fall down, or trip or have to go to PT or have to put on my AFO's. 

Even as an adult I would get asked "What's it like?" And the reality is.. I have never known anything other then having CP. It's not like I woke up on a random Tuesday and all of a sudden walked 'crooked' or had trouble keeping my balance. This is me, for the last 33 years, and weather I like it or not it's never going to go away. And honestly now I don't know if I even want it to. CP has made me who I am in a lot of ways. It has taught me to never give up, to never judge a book by it's cover and to never be afraid of the dreams I have no matter how big and scary they may seem.

Any person with a disability (or a challenge) is a true miracle. But please don't ever let that challenge define you.