The author met a very cool guy named Randy Bradford. This guy was only 45 inches tall. That's, like, 3 feet 9 inches. He was born with Diastrophic Dwarfism. Some parents might choose to terminate a pregnancy if they knew their child would be born this way. He wasn't expected to survie, in fact, much past childhood. Early on in his life, though, his parents took him to the Portland airport to watch the planes take off and land. At that point, he began to dream of flying. He knew that's what he wanted to do. His mother, of course, struggled with how to tell him that he'd never be able to fly. He called himself a "bumblebee," which by all theories of aerodynamics and physics, shouldn't be able to fly. He was told again and again that he wouldn't be able to fly with his size. He didn't listen to the detractors of his dream. He finally found an instructor that would help him. Now he flies and owns a plane. He started a nonprofit organization called Challenged Air for Kids and Friends, which gives plane rides to children who are either disabled or in some way disadvantaged.
That's so cool.
P.S. I have to give a special shout out to Erin Lee, our new Ad Sales & Marketing Director. In her first issue, she was able to do a wonderfully impressive job. On another note, I've got about a week's worth of work, it seems, to accomplish here in two days. We'll see how this deadline goes. I'd like to even it up on the old marker board. Right now the score is Deadline 3 - DVP 2. The riding lawn mower here broke on me again a little over a month ago, and now the weeds are almost too high to mow. Supposedly the supplier in Ohio is getting more belts in today, which should ship out and arrive here around Monday. I just noticed a post-it note on my wall by my desk:
Hi Doug
Thanks for having
an open mind
about this one
Bill
I wonder what that's about... An album review, perhaps? I don't remember!
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at September 20, 2007 08:02 AM