My book and a retirement fund

I enjoy listening to the adventures of my friends. The fellow I mentioned in the last posting had many stories to tell about walking trails and losing weight and learning to use his new found slimmer, more muscular and way more energetic body in ways he had not dared to dream of only a year ago. Now his plans are filled with hope like I'd never seen before in him. An excellent, inspiring conversation! I wish him well on his journey. Before he left he turned the conversation towards what was going on in my life with a few questions and he did some listening of his own. He is a good listener and I suppose I'm pretty good at talking too because he laughed a lot. I autographed a copy of my book: "Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime" he purchased and we said our good byes til another day. I figured I wouldn't see him again for a while. I figured wrong. He read "Joe's Story" all in one day and stopped by this morning to tell me how much he enjoyed it as well as an idea he had for me. I listened with interest to his advice. I got down right inspired again and thanked him when he left for parts unknown. It's pretty cool when someone goes out of their way to help you.

His idea was this: Start doing everything I can to get "Joe's Story" out there and in the hands of book readers as soon as possible. "It's a terrific story" he said. The wisdom in the book would help hundreds of everyday people by validating them in so many ways. By getting the book sold and helping others I would add to my own sense of having done good by writing the story. The side benefit, in his opinion was that I'd finally do something about a retirement fund like he did.

I can say without hesitation that his words made my day. I am also going to do some serious thinking about promoting "Joe's Story".I could use a few bucks in the, as yet non existent retirement fund.

Um, er, by the way. Are you looking for a good book to read? I can help you out there.

Personal adventure

A friend stopped by yesterday that I haven't seen in over a year. He's been on a sort of personal adventure, "renewing himself", he says. He and his wife split up a couple years ago after 43 years of marriage and 3 kids. She felt they had just grown in different directions and had nothing in common anymore. He was devastated, he loved her. Lost and not sure of himself, he decided to quit his job and go looking for whoever he was. The kids are grown, he's been frugal enough to be financially independent if he doesn't go crazy and figured he had nothing left to lose. Off he went in his van to see what he could see. When he left he weighed 304 pounds and used a walker most of the time. Holy Cow! Not any more. He went on a high protein eating regimen along with reducing his calorie intake too. His plan was to walk as far as he could each and every day. As the weight dropped, he walked more and more. Eventually he took on parts of a trail on the West coast over the winter and then came back to the East side and did parts of the Appalachian trail before returning to Michigan. He tips the scale at around 195 pounds, give or take a pound or two now, he says. Looks great and sounds great too. A different person in so many ways. He says his wife is paying some attention to him for some reason, they went on a "date" even! A continuing story there I guess. It was good to see him. Reminded me of back in the day when I lost 90 pounds in a very short time. I managed to gain about 30 of that back but that's a whole nother story too.

He sent me a link to a news story he had seen and in his opinion, the video says it all when it comes to the results and the lady in the video obtained.
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/womans-time-lapsed-weight-loss-video-goes-viral-135734803--abc-news-health.html?vp=1

I found it interesting. You may too. Have a good day!