Sunday, October 25, 2009

Building a Foundation and Finding Inspirations

With every day comes the challenge to do more with Worldguy. Some days just walking to keep fit is all that seems to happen on the outside.On the inside I think of where I may go next and how I might be of more use to the cause of diabetes in my own little way.

When I am out with the World on the road in my city I am asked my purpose. After over ten years it is interesting to me that there are always new people to tell my tale. Walking across the mid-west then struggling to ascend Pike's Peak for diabetes awareness is impressive. Walking from Kentucky to Pennsylvania two years ago --and the first trip in the last century of 160 miles to promote the ADA's awareness week-- show I am dedicated to the cause that took my mother as well as many friends and family over the years. I could keep keep walking for years encouraging fitness and better diet to control and prevent diabetes, constantly finding new people to share the message with as evidenced by my walking here in Louisville for years. I can walk across the country until I am old, broken down, and more grey. Doing this alone I could be happy to have made some impact.

Or, I can do more by building on that and create a WorldGuy Foundation, take the time necessary to make it a non-profit, and do more than get on a mailing list as a result of the donations we have made. Enter the WorldGuy Foundation. With the help of my family and friends this is what I have begun. The process takes time, but I believe we can do more for diabetes awareness by taking this step.

Now I feel more inspired to do more... to learn how to get sponsorships, to ask for help, to make World Guy more than a man spreading a message by walking on the highway getting his message out with local news coverage or a CNN spot filmed fr0m the air. I can add to that with help and inspiration from others to give to the cause of diabetes in more ways. A world of possibilities.

Monday, October 12, 2009

A walk in the Park

Today it was just a walk in the park. I did break a sweat, unlike the many walks I have taken recently with only the dog (Nice). I get so bored walking without the World in tow. Today I walked for my health, for my own peace of mind. I let the world roll down the big hill in the park and got as close to the long path at it's bottom as I ever have. A border Collie corralled it at the bottom until we walked down to it, the dog was happy to have some work.
Still planning to go for another walk for Diabetes in the spring of next year. Am beginning to get excited about it. North East is looking pretty good unless something else comes up as a better trip.
For now working at home will keep me busy.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Driving wind and the trenches

After a hard rain two days ago the sk cleared with a stiff wind that gusted and turned the skies clear and blue. I was waiting yet another day for payment from a customer who I had performed work for weeks ago whose story changes on a daily basis. Their excuses have become my entertainment. Never in all my years has anyone spun such yarns of personal troubles and reasons for being unable to pay. Always assuring me that tomorrow things will come together and I will be the first to be taken care of. "Taken" is the only word I am inclined to believe. To add to the drama they have hired me to work for them when they do get things strait, and always it is tomorrow. So, I have put off work for others. A bit of honesty on their part, or less gullibility on mine would go a long way to help the situation. As I said, the wind was blowing hard. The best use of my day was to blow up the world ball and walk Nice (the dog) against the wind that had turned the skies from gray to blue.

As we walked against the wind, and every step was a labor, I looked back to this summer when we walked beside roadways against the prevailing winds across the mid-west. I remembered days and weeks I spent laboring to get to the next town or mile marker, walking in the trenches and high grass, assuring myself the wind was not holding me back, but pacing me so I may be at a certain place at a certain moment to meet someone or see a sight that I would not have seen had the wind been calm. After having this thought while standing at an intersection, I looked up to see my customer driving by doing their best not to make eye contact. The excuse for this day would have found them on the expressway to file papers with the state. I smiled to myself, thanked the wind for the opportunity and resolved "to go back to the trenches" and take other work. I said this to myself in metaphor but within hours I was talking on the phone to a friend about other things when he offered the possibility of some work where we would fix a water flow problem around one of his customers' pool. Everyone has talents, trenches and flow are one of mine. I should be careful of what I say to myself about trenches...