Through the Forbidden Valley, Over the Perilous Pass, Around the Swamp of Solitude, and Into the Belly of the BEAST!!!

Every great story of an incredible journey must have adversity, Right?

So if you ever find yourself stuck where I am - up to my eyeballs in adversity, I guess you just remind yourself about that.

Frodo Baggins kept on walking. Despite all odds, that little fuzzy-footed foot soldier would not quit. He put one foot in front of the other all the way to Mordor. (Spelling of Tolkien names is not under warranty)

Yesterday, I finally finished a critical task I had been working on for 3 months. As a result, I was going to be able to free up a little bit of money from a bank to pass on to subcontractors to whom I owe an unbearable amount of money. Bear in mind, I was far from done, but my whole heart had sort of brightened at the idea of being able to give some people something.

I don't care to bore with too much detail, but the funds were Frozen. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Upon hearing the news, I was off to the races. Calls from my cell phone were flying to the bank, my attorney, subs who I had written checks, my wife to tell her I was not on the way home to spend time with my children after all...

Disaster had struck.

What do you do when the one thread of hope you have been hanging on to for the last 3 months is clipped as casually as my 3-year old daughter knocking over a glass of newly poured milk? I guess you just stand there in disbelief.

That is in fact what I did yesterday. Stood there as if looking down on the milk - now dripping from the counter onto her clothes, seat, and the floor - and feel sorry for myself.

Where was Staples with their fricking "Easy Button" now?

So not by choice, I'm forced to take a night to think about it... What does all of this mean?

From the $700 Billion bailout in Washington D.C. to the loans that I got and maybe shouldn't have, to the loans I helped other people get who are now living the same mess as me, to the subcontractors who did the work and can't pay the suppliers, to the suppliers who can't repay loans to the banks for the losses, and all of our employees we've let go who now can't find work or pay their mortgages, just like I can't pay my mortgage...

Back when money was more abundant in my life, and my ego abounded (not necessarily a happier time, just a time when I was more stymied by illusions of success due to my own skill as a business man, and the resulting imbalance in life's priorities), I used to think the legacy I would leave behind to my children was that they could do anything they dreamed of.

My children would sit captivated as I told them stories of slaying mighty "mean Dragons" while I rode triumphantly on my "nice Dragon" who brought me my sword. I think for about a week, they were pretty convinced Dragons were really real.

I wanted to start a little thing called "Dragons Live". An organization, charity, foundation... or maybe just a children's book - but something dedicated to letting kids know that they can make their very own dreams come true.

Needless to say - that has not gone very far. (nowhere)

What has happened is that I have achieved a quiet confidence knowing that I, like Frodo - can keep going.

I will be forced to - in my own realm, "go through the Forbidden Valley, over the Poisonous Pass, around the Swamp of Solitude, and Into the Belly of the BEAST, just as Frodo was.

Just as my parents were - and are. Just as whoever is reading this blog must do.

I imagine that these desperate times, when we can't make it any farther, and the last strand of hope has been cut - are some of the times that Jesus Christ experienced on our behalf in his Atonement in Gethsemane.

He too, had a path to walk that could be walked by none other. He went as far as He could go on His own, and then was broken.

Even then, He placed one foot in front of the other as He faced Pilate, then Herod, then Pilate again. He even climbed Calvary with the help of the man who carried His cross.

By no means am I a martyr as He was, and by no means holy.

I hoped to gain a profit, and gain wealth and worldly accolades. For the record, I tried my best to do it the right way - but in the end, I too have been broken.

So what incredible adventure in life would be so without a breaking point?

I guess this is the essence of this blog, for me. Climbing Everest for Sir Edmund Hillary was no meager accomplishment. Only HE could do it for himself. As it is with a Marathon (I suppose, mine comes next year).

While hundreds of people have climbed Everest, and hundreds of thousands complete marathons and other remarkable feats of strength and endurance each year... it is the accomplishment of each individual for themselves that is miraculous.

To finish any such task a goal must be set, and one foot placed in front of the next in succession until the task is finished. I suspect that in the process - each person must push past the barriers that would hold them back, like the Swamp, or the Valley, or the "Belly of the Beast".

Relative to my own life's calamity: I will wake up tomorrow. Get dressed. Skip the bowl of cereal as I almost always do. Kiss my kids & wife, and keep trying.

I hope that you will join me!

P.S. FUNNY SCARY DOOR LINK COMING SOON WHEN I FIND IT