Kyle Walsh was in the Barnes & Noble foreign language section searching for a book to improve his Spanish. He had a scuba diving trip in Belize the next day and needed to brush up. He found a book, but it was on the top shelf, out of his reach.

Walsh scanned the store for help and saw a girl with auburn hair reading in a corner. 

“There were probably 10 options to get the book,” Walsh said. “But, yeah, I chose her.”

Her name was Audra, and yes, of course, she could help this man who couldn’t reach the book from his wheelchair. But that common courtesy turned into an hour-long conversation and an invitation to a dinner date when Walsh returned from his trip.

So Walsh took the Spanish book to Belize, an English colony in Central America whose primary language is… English. But the book wasn’t useless. It connected him with his future wife. He and Audra have been married nearly 20 years now. They have a 13-year-old daughter, Adalee, and a 12-year-old son, Eli, who’ve lived their entire lives in College Station, where Walsh serves as the College Station High School offensive line coach.

Walsh is a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down, with limited use of his arms and almost none in his hands. Over the years, people have tried to encourage him, saying modern medicine could help him walk again. Walsh will have none of it. He may get his legs in the next life, but this wheelchair has provided one full of blessings.

“If I had the option to go back and change it in 1992, I would never take that option because of the last 30 years of incredible things that I’ve been able to be a part of and the incredible people that are part of my life,” Walsh said. “I wouldn’t have met my wife, my kids, or had the time I’ve spent with my brother and nephew.”