“Dreams don’t fade away as we get older; we exchange them for standards of living.” Ben Arment

Ben’s words on the first full day of Story Chicago rang true with me.  We all have dreams and we need to see them through.  We just do.  The Story Conference reminded me of that fact and helped reset my course to do so.

The conference started with an amazing art display.  “Make sure you’re in before 7 because they’re closing the doors and you don’t want to miss it!” I was told.  And they were right.  The creative team presented a visual and aural masterpiece.  Essentially, it was a thunderstorm inside.  And as I type that, I am fully aware I cannot do it justice with words.  The cool thing, though, was that there was an actual storm raging outside, too!  It really was an event that had to be experienced to be appreciated.

Then we got to view Blood Brother, a fantastic documentary about a guy who ends-up finding his place at an AIDS orphanage in India.  At turns funny, then poignant, then heartbreaking…Blood Brother will change you.

I’m not sure I knew who any of the speakers were this year before they spoke, but they added their own flavor.  It’s just so cool to hear other peoples’ creative process!  From the Global Director of Creative Outreach and Senior Writer for Nike, to the founder of Charity:Water, to the Director of Arts programs at Kickstarter, to the Chief Product Officer at Blurb.com, to a “mouth artist,” to the creative director at Cirque du Soleil Media, to the Creative Director at Google Labs…seriously, we as an audience might not have known who they were, but they are all amazing people doing incredible things who we have a lot to learn from.

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve gotten a card from my grandpa for my birthday.

Every year, usually the day before, the card would arrive.  A $10 bill tucked gently inside and the words, “Love you – Grandpa” scratched onto the card stock.  And right there next to him, since 1994, has been “Grandma Mary.”

Grandpa passed away in April, but Mary, God bless her, has carried on the tradition.  Today is my first birthday without grandpa here, but look what I got in the mail yesterday:

Tears

And here’s what you need to understand: They’ve never missed it.  Which is unbelievable because Grandpa had ten kids.  That means a lot of grandkids and great-grandkids and even a couple great-great-grandkids.  Even so, without fail, that card and $10 from grandpa and Mary would be in your mailbox right on-time.

I know it won’t go on forever, but it was nice to open the mailbox and see that card at least one more time.  It made me sad, because I miss my grandpa, but it also made me smile to know what an amazing woman he married after my grandma died.

So, thank you for the card, Grandma Mary, and the lovely reminder.

And I hope you’re having a great time in Heaven, grandpa.

I miss you.

The Story Conference 2013 is coming-up QUICKLY and, just like last year, I need your help!

Story is a conference for the creative class. A place to share ideas and encourage each other to tell even better stories with our lives. You can read all about my experience at last year’s event in a series of six posts, starting with this one.

It means a lot to me that so many of you have expressed interest in helping me experience Story again and I’m totally stoked about this year’s fundraiser!

Here’s the video version of what I’ve written below:

My friend Jim Abbott has provided TWO autographed baseballs for me to give to two lucky winners!  Here’s how it’ll work:

First, for every $10 donation, your name will be entered to win a baseball autographed by JIM ABBOTT!

The other big item I’m going to include in the raffle is this sweet LOH messenger bag! It’s a $50 value!

I also have some shirts, stickers and stress relief cubes if you’re interested!

The second ball will go to the highest bidder!  Send me your bid at ryan@livingonehanded.com and I’ll update this post as the bids come in.

Current High Bid: $200.00

The easiest way to donate is to click on the “Donate” button below. When you do, please indicate if you’re interested in either the ball or bag or both.

If you’d rather give by check or cash, that’s totally cool. Just email me!

In addition, every donor will receive an LOH thank you postcard from me!

Also, if you’re just super awesome and would like to give without being entered into the raffle, just let me know.  🙂

I’ll chose all three winners SATURDAY NIGHT at 10pm CST (9/14/13)!

Seriously, you guys are the best.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…you’re the reason I do this.

Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions!

Ryan

I knew Lady Gaga was polarizing, but…wow.

Today I posted this picture on the Living One-Handed Facebook page with the caption, “Lady Gaga holding a prosthetic arm. Discuss.”

Sweet shoes.

What happened next surprised me.

Let me first say that I’m a big fan of free speech.  Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion, just as I’m entitled to mine.  And here’s my opinion of this picture…those are some shoes right there, dawg.  And what is she so mad about?  And what’s with the arm?  That’s it.  Those are my thoughts.

Now, I have no particular interest in her, other than that my friend Jerrod is dating her (in his mind), so I just thought it was interesting.  I know she pushes the envelope and wears weird crap all the time and has a song called “Born This Way” which is NOT cool because that’s what I was going to title my memoir, but…I digress.  I figured people would have thoughts about the picture, so I posted it and…I was right.

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