Labor Day marked the end of "summer."  Kids are back in school, pools are closing and adults are making their ways back to the office after the last holiday break until Thanksgiving.  Goodbye vacationers; Hello An Uncharted Life.

I know I have been saying for months now that I am going to send my package out to the NY publishers.  Today was the day.

See, I didn't want to do it the week before, of or after the 4th of July.  Everyone tends to vacation or take shortened office hours in August.  Nobody typically does anything in September (at least not until the Christmas babies have their birthdays at the end of the month).

Not much happens this month, which is why today was the PERFECT day to send my package out to 8 publishing houses stationed in New York.  With as important as my book can be to other people, I owed it to myself to send my pitch at the perfect time.  Even if that meant sending my package later than I wanted to, I wasn't being lazy but rather strategically delaying when these companies (and hopefully their executives) receive my package to gaurantee a higher probability of them opening it.

All I need them to do is read my letter-- that's it.  I put every bit of who I am in my book and I condensed that into a 4 or 5 paragraph letter.  As far beyond expectations as I have gone, all of that is represented in my letter.  Hours, days were spent choosing the exact words.  All they have to do is read it, and the passion I pursue life with will hit them.

It's gonna happen.  Someone will read it and open up the rest of the package.  They will see the pictures of me (and see how far I have come).  They will watch my DVD.  They'll read the chapters I enclosed.  And, if I'm really lucky, they will go to my website too.

Almost a year was spent creating a 4-dimensional marketing package to promote the lessons and knowledge I have learned and gained across my life.  I put it together and I sent it off, double and triple-checking to make sure I did not overlook anything.  Worst case scenario, they don't look at it.  However, by trying, the worst case scenario is the only scenario I would be left with if I didn't try at all.

Someone will notice it.  This book will be published and I will have done the best thing I could possibly do with my life: give back to others and make this world a better place.  You touch one person and your life is meaningful.  I always aim high because I know how many people deserve to be inspired.  This is it.  Those big things I have talked about, they are going to happen now.

I take my driver's license test on Friday at 11 AM.  I was out for a few hours today practicing.

Maryland changed the driving test to a road test.  Before you go out on the road, you have to do your parallel parking and, instead of a three-point turn-- you have to back into a congined space.  I didn't really have it at first, but by the end of my practicing today I was nailing it repeatedly.

I got my checkpoints down in my mirrors.  I have the coordination figured out with my adapted equipment.  All I have to do now is keep doing a little bit of practice every day, be as anal as can be about my signaling and head-checking and then there is no reason why I won't have my driver's license by this Friday afternoon.

I'll keep everyone posted!  Thank you so much for the encouragement.  You guys are fantastic, really =)

Here's the thing, nothing is impossible if you are continually making gains.  If you are at least matching what you did yesterday, what is stopping you from doing even one little bit more?

doing just a little bit more today than you did yesterday gets you that much closer to attaining what was once impossible.  Keep pushing forward and, before you know it, what once seemed impossible.

Keep your head high.  I'm not saying you won't feel down and beat yourself up sometimes, but as long as you push through and do a little bit each day, I promise that the person you'll transform yourself into a year from today will be the happiest person you have ever felt yourself as.

Head high.  And anytime you need an additional, customized kick in the butt, I am only an email away!

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney

I was thinking about this today after getting off the bus and walking towards my office.  I go to the gym to strengthen my body and rehabilitate my right side.  I am stronger than I have ever been before, but my right side still feels nothing like my left side.

I read somewhere that nerve damage takes 50 years to heal.  If this holds true, and I can keep getting stronger, I plan to do some pretty awesome things to celebrate, because I realized while walking to work some pretty cool things that I would do if my right side felt the same way as my left side does.

For one, I want to juggle until I can't lift both arms anymore.  I also want to do back handsprings across the US...or at least down the street.  I want to touch my left arm with my right hand and my right arm with my left hand to actually feel what my body feels like. 

The only way I have known my sensations on my upper body is through nerve damage.  The only sense of how my body really feels is by touching my left leg with my left hand.  Everything else has a discrepancy due to the nerve damage.

What else do I want to do?  I'd want to try to run a marathon again, see if it makes any difference.  I'd stay balanced on my right foot for at least an hour.  Not only would I teach myself to ride a bike, but let's learn a pogo stick or, better yet, a unicycle!

I want to be able to see things out of the corner of my right eye.  I want to be able to give my girlfriend, whenever I find her, a two-handed massage.  It would also be nice to learn the proper way to tie a tie or even to play baseball.

My list can go on and on about new experiences I would want to try, but the truth is that most of these are things I have tried.  I can't juggle balls, but I have juggled 3 scarves and 3 bean bags.  I give a fantastic one-handed massage and let's not forget my dominance I showed in baseball and running.

I can do cartwheels over a board.  I have attempted hopping once on a pogo stick, but never tried a unicycle before.  Maybe I'll do that next.

The point is you learn to appreciate things when you lose your ability to do something.  Yes, I don't remember before my aneurysm, but I am reminded every day about what I lost based on how effortlessly my left side can do almost any task.  My right side should be able to do just that because your body is supposed to be balanced, and I have never known mine to be that way.

That appreciation, however, has driven me to learn.  I can still do these things.  Nothing holds me back.  There is just another obstacle put in front of me.  That's all.  I'm just as capable as I would be otherwise, just with one less obstacle.  You still have to learn.  I have just had to learn my way.

If I regain my nerves, I will have to relearn everything all over again.  I'll be given a miraculous disability.  It may happen when I am 53 years old.  Regardless, I am going to be happy because whether I am learning a new way to run or continuing with how I have always known, I live my life to the fullest because no matter what is thrown your way, you owe it to yourself to actually live.  That's why whatever happens to me doesn't matter because each day is another day that I will grow stronger.