Health, Wealth and Happiness

“Write the letter!” ”No, I’m too busy, she’ll never get it” ”Write the letter!”  She now could tell that I wasn’t mad, but not backing down either.  She saw my eyes and said,  ”OK, I’ll write the letter”.  “What are you going to do, walk up to Oprah and hand her the letter?”  The look she got back told her that that was EXACTLY what I planned to do.  But I also knew then that I had a plan B.

The next day I was to board a plane to LA, then one to Houston, then on to Chicago.  I would have a leisurely night visiting with my sister and brother-in-law in Wrigleyville, and she would lovingly drop me off at Navy Pier the next day for our event.  I wanted to catch up with family on the trip, but I admit, the excitement Zrii’s business ribbon-cutting was really racing in my head.  Would Bill have Oprah there?  To many she was larger than life, but to my wife, well, my wife had had a dream and a VISION.   Would I get some recognition?  (Earth to Rick, you have to earn THAT.)  Would Bill even talk to me?  Those  thoughts.

The plan was perfect.  I had originally planned to fly stand-by, but 3 weeks out, I rethought that, and worked out a masterful combo of frequent flyer miles, and a nifty low-cost round trip from Honolulu to LA.  And all on the same airline(Continental.) 

“Did you write the letter?”

The trip back would be a little tricky.  Continental only has one daily flight out of LAX to HNL, and it would be gone by the time I landed on the way back.  (Hey guys could ya work with me on THAT a little?)  I remembered our friends in church in LA, and the brainal computer quickly scanned down the list.  I stopped at Kyle, called him and he said, “Bro, of course, I’ll pick you up, and we can work things out!” 

I was on a roll.  My employer was cooperating by terminating me, and that would take place on the date I was in Chicago for the event.  Nice touch, I thought.  I would never again have to work for someone else.  Yeah, I’ve heard the one about saying never.

I saw my wife laboring over the letter.  By the end of the second (or third) draft, and after a couple of tears, she had it!  You see my wife and I saw the show where Oprah unveiled her Academy in South Africa.  We cried, they rejoiced, the kids would better themselves.  Wow, how cool is that?  These were life-changing times for those girls.  It was touching to witness Oprah’s soul being fulfilled.

Malia my wife, thought-what if she went to SA to share her considerable healing skills.  (I threw in the word considerable.)  She could really help them with emotions from their challenging backgrounds.  Though joyful, and possessing the ‘it’ factor, they were hiding  the pain.  A chiropractor that does NET and holistic healing can do that, often quite dramatically.

Malia had had a dream one night FOUR YEARS AGO where she was treating Oprah on her private jet.  (It had beige leather seats and Oprah was wearing a purple jumpsuit as they flew over Santa Barbara.)  It was the night that she had given tons of Christmas gifts to the kids in South Africa.  Malia felt then that Oprah wanted to do even more….    

A week before the trip I had rolled my ankle and it really got sore a day later.  It swelled up so big, I could have been a float at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Someone said “guess you’ll have to cancel the trip.”  I said “Guess again.”  It turned out to be gout.  Now I KNOW the title of my own blog.  I know that my poor diet caused the uric acid build-up that obviously manifested itself as gout in my left foot.  That’s a topic for another blog entry.

I also knew that I was crawling across the floor at home for a couple of days.  I bought a cane, started the proper procedures,  (see my future blog) and ordered a wheel chair for every connection of the trip.

It was almost time.  The finely crafted letter was combined with a photo greeting card that I created, and was in the envelope ready to go.  I was on the way to the airport.  After a kiss OK, 2 or 3, I said goodbye to Malia.  I was wheeled off through security, and on to the plane.  Perfectly timed.  A guy could get used to this treatment.  I worked the whole way on the flight to LA, then boarded the flight to Houston the next morning.  After almost no sleep on the plane to LAX, I was a zombie on the Houson bound connection, not asleep, not awake, just on auto-pilot.

In Houston, I got more excited about the completion of the trip, and perked up.  I would work all the way to Chi on the flight.  Then reality hit.  The storms that were hitting the OK/AR/MO/Southern IL area were ‘blocking’ the path of our flight to Chicago.  6 hours later, we took off, so much for seeing my sister and brother-in-law.  My bro, who works for a competitor would laughingly say “Shoulda flied United.”

I landed,  got in my wheel chair, heading for the L train.  The guy was pausing to ogle women on the way, and trying oh so hard to be my friend.  I was getting a bit tired of that, but we were getting there quickly.  I reached into my wallet, (after buying my L train ticket) to give him a tip, and could only produce a one dollar bill.  Ouch, that even hurt me.

I met a half awake bro-in-law, who whisked me to the condo.  Their very homey place welcomed me, but their schedules meant that they had to be up and out in a matter of hours.  We got up, and soon I was hobbling around Navy Pier in Chicago, obviously before anyone other than employees were expected there.

Finally the event doors opened and I was overwhelmed by the moment, as our company (Zrii) Pre-Launch ribbon-cutting was taking place.  I looked around at all the logos, the displays, and realized that I needed to be in line.  The day seemed to be somewhat of a dream, and I met my old friend and business associate Paul.  I also met my mentor and guru Craig.

Later, at a break, I saw CEO Bill Farley in a corner of the side of the stage greeting people.  I grabbed THE Letter, and hurried over with my camera.  He had that perennial smile, the joy, the energy that I already admired.  He glowed, as person after person waited patiently to talk and take a pic.

Except THAT guy.  He stood impatiently and then started to push toward the front.  He said, “I just want a picture!”  I guess talking to Bill was not part of his deal.  Well, of course, he got his pic, and finally THE moment arrived.

See, apporaching Bill’s good friend Oprah had been plan A, and I guess I could have gotten a ride over to Harpo Productions.  Could have meekly knocked, then begged an associate or more likely a janitor to take my letter, and PERHAPS give it to her eventually…….  She obviously wasn’t here.

But Plan B was her friend Bill.  His perennial smile faded, oh so briefly as he read the name on the envelope.  He said, “Oh, this is a bit of a tall order” I said “I know, but could you do your best?”  He nodded and then the earth-stopping moment was drawing to a close.

We took the pic.  Of course he looked perfect, and I had this ‘cat that just swallowed a canary’ look on my face.  (At least I got it)  Mission accomplished!

The rest of the event could be summed up in one word.  CLASS.  I told Bill that later off to the side at the night presentations.  He again seemed like he was glowing, taking in the whole experience as we were.

I wonder if she’s seen the letter yet………….