Elanso

A few days ago, I mentioned I was traveling to the East Coast for the holidays. I left home around 10:30 am yesterday morning and pretty much drove straight through with a couple of restroom stops, arriving to my final destination almost 6 hours later. When driving long distance like that, creative ideas tend to come flying out of nowhere, which is why I usually bring a pen and pad with me in the car.

At one point, I was thinking, “When I get to Matt’s house (my brother), I will be writing my last gratitude post of the year. What things can I tell the Adversity University community that am I grateful for this week?”

It wasn’t long before thoughts came flying from all different directions, most of which made their way to the blue notebook that was perched on the edge of the passenger seat next to me. Here are a handful of things I managed to scribble while I sped through 4 states:

• Thankful for not only having a place to go and spend the holidays with my family (my brother’s house) but also grateful that I arrived safely after driving almost 400 miles.
• An opportunity for a speaking engagement in Florida materialized last week for January 2008, thanks to the same article on conflict resolution that led me to be invited for an interview on a popular Midwest radio station a few weeks ago.
• Due to the death of the radio show producer’s father-in-law, the above-mentioned interview that was supposed to happen a few weeks ago was canceled; yet it was rescheduled for the first week of January 2008, still giving me an opportunity to be heard by 50,000 listeners.
• Grateful that I continue to receive divine guidance every day.
• One of the readers introduced me to her literary agent upon which I sent a query letter introducing myself. Many agents prefer to receive new clients by referral these days. I’m grateful for the opportunity to at least get my foot in the door with this particular agent.
• Another reader was recently corresponding with a best-selling author, who enjoys a professional relationship with a man who was once my literary agent in 2000. When I found out about this, I knew it was no ordinary coincidence. It was a divine message to get in touch with my former agent so I asked her to forward my contact information to him. Within 24 hours I heard from him, the result of which was a referral to a former editor of Random House who might provide me with professional assistance on my book proposal (needed to snatch an agent and/or publisher). .
• Today (and one day next week) while staying at my brother’s house, I will have an opportunity to meet up with two readers from the Adversity University community for lunch/dinner!
• Some of you may remember a couple videos about my involvement with the “Flight to Hartford” project where I flew a small plane this past summer from Ohio to Hartford, Conn. A couple of videos were posted on this blog about that flight. Aside from the fact that the purpose was to raise public awareness about the capabilities of people with disabilities, the flight made one disabled man’s dream come true. He acted as my “co-pilot” and together we showed the world that dreams come true for those who believe and take action. I was very grateful to have been the pilot of that historic flight.

Food for thought: What are YOU grateful for this week? Did anything significant happen to you this year that you are grateful for?

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