Life is about moving on and making the most out of every moment.  A few times a year I just sit back and reflect on just how dynamic life can be, how one change even from 3 years ago can completely redirect your path.  Change is hard and, even though moving forward is difficult no matter the circumstance,

As much as I want to pound away at my book and as dedicated as I am to get it done, it’s an emotional undertaking to write about your entire life.  To make your life worth writing about, you must relive it.  It’s amazing how just writing about the events can cause you to experience the identical emotions and sensations you felt when it happened.

I went to a concert on Saturday.  Simple Plan performed with three acts opening for them.  I saw Simple Plan on their first tour in 2002—they opened for Avril Lavigne.  I went out to get their autographs too late and they were finishing signing as I was still in line.  It’s been over 9 years since that show and I finally got that CD sleeve signed Saturday night!

On top of it all, a main reason why I bought tickets to the show, The Cab was one of the bands opening for Simple Plan.  Now I only have two songs by them currently on my ipod—one being a cover of Disturbia—but the one song of theirs that I randomly heard on the radio in 2008 played such a huge contributing role to a lasting moment in my life, I went to the show just for that.  Then, as they started playing the song, I was completely taken by surprise because I had forgotten that was the reason I had bought the ticket to begin with.  Not only did I get the entire song recorded, minus the first 10 seconds that I missed because I forgot and was completely taken by surprise, but I got to tell the band members the story behind the significance of their song.  Alex was blown away by it that we are keeping in touch now.  We follow each other on Twitter and we are going to meet up again when they come to DC in February.

At this point in time, my life could have been in so many different places.  Each choice, each reaction from an event has dictated where I am.  The memories are great, remembering where you were only helps you make better in the future…as long as you push yourself to live life.  I could have avoided the song by not going to the concert, but now I have new memories and a deeper appreciation for the memories I had based on how they VOLUNTARILY reacted to my story.

Life doesn’t always go the way you plan, but that is no reason not to live.  I can’t cut my life short.  Writing this book, though arduously daunting, has reminded me of just how much I have overcome.  The reinforcement I have gotten from everyone as I have written this book so far only motivates me more to write the book, showing me there is precedent and reason for it to be written.

It’s hard to do, but the best, impactful and most meaningful things take the longest to come together and exist.  As painfully drained as I feel right now writing this book, the highlights I have encountered just from writing this book push me on.  It will take longer to finish than I intended, but finishing this marathon will feel even more amazing than crossing the finish line as the mobility-impaired champion at Boston in 2008.

This will be a memory forever.  Writing this book has revealed to me how much I have already accomplished.  Reliving these obstacles and describing them from memory has shown me how important this book.  Completing it, having that medal on my shelf, is going to help everyone else strive to earn their own and overcome obstacles they never imagined to be anything other than impossible.

Gotta love this kid and his determined spirit!

9 Year-Old Saves The World by Making Us Suck Less

So one of my friends introduced me to making a wish on 11:11 a few years ago now.  So obviously today is beyond a special day for that.  Pretty cool seeing nothing but the number 1 when you look at the date on your phone or computer.

So instead of making a wish today, I simply signed the trinity and pointed to the sky, which is what I usually do.  Started doing that when Elrod Hendricks passed away.  He was the one man who believed in my baseball dreams outside of my family.  He was going to make my dream come true, but it apparently was not meant to be with how everything fell apart.  Rest in peace, my friend, and thank you for your endless support.

I know what I’ll be doing today, and it is far better than any wish I could make.  Tonight I will be editing 9 more pages in my book, setting me up to finish editing the chapters I have written by the end of this weekend.  For me, 11/11/11 means that I will be perfectly set up to finish my book by the end of this month and pitch my 2011 of hard, tested and prevailing determination to the literary world.

Big things are coming and, even though I gave up enjoying some beautiful weather, the reward of finishing so much of my book is going to carry so much weight.  I can’t wait to see how many people it will impact and how gratifying it will be to pitch and market this book in the next year.

Have a great weekend everybody and may any wishes you make (as silly as it may be) come true in…with passion, will and determination of course!

-    Greg Wagner  11/11/11

It never fails to amaze me how things work together and happen the way they are apparently meant to.

Saturday night, I had my ticket to go see one of my favorite bands in Towson.  I had tried to see them twice over the summer, but both shows were canceled due to weather.  I wanted to get there early so that I could get towards the front.  The fiddlest, Alex, inspired me to write the book I’m currently writing  and I wanted to give him the first few edited chapters as a thank you.

I get there early, and actually see Scythian taking the last bit of stuff out of their van.  I walk up to Alex and he remembers me.  He’s touched by the chapters and asks me what I am doing til the show starts.  He tells me to come in and hang out, that I can listen to soundcheck.  I help them set up their merchandise and promotional stuff too.

I get myself front row center for the concert—pretty easy considering I was the first person in the venue.  During Scythian’s set, they have us embrace hands with the person next to us, saying that they are strangers you will never see again.  So the guy next to me and I link arms and start Irish jigging together.  We wind up talking after the song ends.  He is a pediatric surgeon.  I tell him my story.  He wants to stay in contact and asked me if he can send patients and families my way as a moral support.

This man is pitching me on talking to patients and their family members, which is exactly what I have been planning to do with my life.  We stood next to each other during all of Scythian’s set, but only talked because Alex and Dan told us too.  Again, Alex changes my life for the better in a way that I have been trying to create for myself on my own.  So bizarre, but it looks like the second time I have seen Scythian this year has propelled my career in two individual ways.

To top the entire night off, I hang out with the guys after the show for a bit and completely hit it off with the band members I didn’t get to talk to at the last show.  All else I needed was to meet a girl through them, which I actually thought almost could have happened Saturday night too.  But again, everything happens for a reason as it should.  We’ll just have to see how Scythian guides my life when I see them December 9th in DC.  Third city I will have seen them in—third way to propel my life/career?  We will see…but at least I’ll have another night to spend with some great new friends.

Last night, I get home from having dinner with a couple friends.  I come home to a package from a New York PO Box.

Inside the package is a note from Katy, Duran Duran’s go-to girl, telling me that Simon wanted me to have this.  Enclosed in the padded envelope is a signed deluxe CD/DVD of their latest album, All You Need Is Now.  Simon had Katy send it to me as a thank you for sharing my story with him and sending him the first chapter of my book.

When I was at the Duran Duran concert in DC with my Dad, I had bought their 2011 tour program.  Inside the program, each member of the band had a short interview typed out.  The first question Simon answered was “What is your greatest fear?” to which he replied “The fear of losing a child.”  Knowing everything my Dad had given up with his music career to take care of me, I had to write them and send Simon the first chapter detailing how my parents almost lost me.  Katy wrote me back telling me what an inspirational story I have and that she will definitely give it to Simon.  Not even a few days later, she emails mr back and tells me that there may be something in the mail for me.

Apparently Simon was so touched by my chapter and what my family has been through that he sent me the signed special edition CD as a thank you.

This book is going to be an amazing journey and all the details will carry everyone through what I have lived through.  If one chapter can prompt one of the greatest singers, in one of the most impressive bands in history, to send me a signed CD as a thank you, all 26 chapters are going to truly impact a lot of people.  What a motivating force to inspire me to keep at this editing and finish the last 5 chapters.  I guess I was saved to make a difference in the world.  What a way to have that reaffirmed!

I can’t thank Katy or Simon enough for their gesture.  Without question, I am sending them the book when it is finished.  One month to go and it’ll be fully written, edited and all!