Have you ever met someone who far surpassed your initial impression?  May I introduce you to Jane Taylor, who did just that? 

I met Jane at a conference for Garage Storage Systems that my husband is part of this past summer.  I went along to enjoy the resort and work on my writing.  Family is invited to the opening and closing parties.  We changed greetings with Jane at the bar while we awaited our cocktail orders to be filled.  I automatically assumed the petite, thin, healthy woman was a wife of one of the burly, tool loving garage guys in the room.  Much to my surprise, however, Jane added to her introduction, “I am the Austin, Texas dealer, Garage Monkeyz.”  Can you see my jaw drop?

What in the world is this bright eyed, healthy, woman with a big smile doing owning a Garage Storage Dealership, I wondered as I stared at her unintentionally.  My husband chimed in and they began to exchange stories about their respective businesses.  I stood there confused, continued to stare as if my expectation would find a way to match the realty here.  I never resolved the disconnect in my head.

Fast-forward to the last night of the conference; the awards dinner.  Once again, we gather in the ballroom of the hotel.  We select seats and start chatting with the people already seated.  With only two seats left, who fills one of them?  Jane Taylor.

Guessing that everyone at the table had probably had their fill of talking about garage storage designing, tools, marketing practices, new products lines, etc. I steered the topic of conversation to “What do you like to do for fun?”  One by one everyone shared their favorite activities; hiking, camping, paddle boarding.  As we gleefully chatted away I was particularly interested in hearing what Jane had to say.  I learned that she grew up in Hawaii and we shared a passion for whales and marine life.  She was in the Navy and get this, she was on Season 2 of Whale Wars!

For those who haven’t seen Whale Wars, it’s a reality show about a group of whale activists, called the Sea Shepherds, who relentlessly try to stop Japanese ships from whaling in Antarctica.  Commercial whaling is banned in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, but Japan claims they are whaling for research, which is just a cover.  The exchanges between the two become heated and dangerous in the freezing cold waters surrounded by icebergs.  Being on one of these ships is taking your hands in your own life.  I was impressed; Jane was a tough cookie!

The host of the conference stepped up to the podium on the stage in front of us, as we were served coffee, to begin the awards ceremony.  He began by asking, “Is there anyone with remaining questions or comments before we begin the final part of our conference?”

I raised my hand and JUMPED out of my seat. Now mind you, I was not really a part of this crowd, more like a guest amongst the mostly men waiting to hear if they won the latest power tool.

Undaunted, I announced with pride and enthusiasm, “ We just learn that Jane was on Whale Wars!!” 

Well, you would have thought I announced there was a sale at T.J. Maxx.  The room went completely silent, until a few awkwardly clapped.  Jane humbly shooed me back into my seat.  The host stood with the microphone in his hand and head tilted.  Eventually he broke the tension by saying, “I think a few of us knew that.”

I sat back down and looked at my husband.  I thought I might find him hiding under the table, but he sat proudly, unfazed.  He knows me too well. 

What makes the story even better?  Jane went on to win two awards that night: Most Raved About Dealer- given to the Monkey Bars dealer whose customers comment mostly highly and The Most Improved Dealer.  Yay, Jane!

When we women get the opportunity to celebrate accomplishment, let’s do more than Lean In.  Let’s get out of our seats and cheer!

I love inspirational people.  People who challenge life and win.  People who resist checking 'attend' to the invitation to have a pity party when unthinkable evil, loss or tragedy enters their life.  These people remind us there is a choice always before us of which attitude to pick.  It's a theme that I also incorporate in my new novel, I Know You're There.

When I started this Inspiration Blog series, I had several heroes in mind that I wanted to write about.  Then along came another one, that I just had to include: Diane Nyad.

You most likely saw Diane on the news recently.  64 year-old women successfully swims from Cuba to Key West, Florida on 5th attempt. 53 hours, 110 miles- without a shark cage or stopping to hold on to something to catch her breath.  

While most of us heard the news and were in awe of her accomplishment, a backlash of skeptics immediately stole the limelight and challenged her accomplishment.  "She wore a wet suit and face mask that allowed her to swim faster" was one foul cry.  Really?  If there are jelly fish with stingers so deadly they can kill you in that ocean, shouldn't that be a basic safety requirement/  "There is no way she could have swum that fast, " others contested.  Graciously, without wavering, Nyad acknowledged to her skeptics that she caught a rare current that helped propel her towards Florida like those walking escalators in the airport.  Her claim was backed up by Oceanographers and Meteorologists, touché.

I thought of Ms. Nyad during a recent paddle boarding excursion I took alone on a local lake.  I'm a novice at this walk on water sport.  It was a 90 degree day in September, no wind, during the week when the lake is quiet except for a few retirees out boating.  I paddled easily to the other side of the lake in 25 minutes and jumped in to cool off.  Sat on the board and soaked up some sun.  As I headed back, however, the dreaded wind picked up and my body became a liability, a sail.  As hard as I paddled, I went only a few feet or no where at all.

I won't be dramatic here, I could have given up, drifted to the part of the lake opposite of where my car was, and knocked on one of the beautiful lake front homes and begged for a ride to the other side.  I knew i wasn't going to drown or get blown out to nowhere.  I was determined, however, to get back to my starting point; wind or no wind.  As I paddled harder, my core rock hard, the muscles between my shoulder blades burning, I thought of Nyad.  What must she have thought as she swam, stroke after stroke, all that distance?  I focused, one stroke at a time, stroke, stroke, stroke.  I looked up quickly to see if I made any headway, and yes, by golly, I did!  I became more determined and stroked harder, bent my knees, stroke, stroke, KERPLUNK!  I must have gotten overzealous, leaned on my toes and went overboard.  Shocked, I came up for air, the board was a few feet away, the paddle and my hat drifting in two different directions, Dang!  I scurried back on the board, refocused and ignored my muscles that were now quivering from overuse and hand paddled quickly to retrieve the paddle and my hat bobbing in the water that were going in two different directions.  

Several feet in the wrong direction, I knew I couldn't waste time resting my muscles or I would be towed even further from my goal.  I cut my sail in half by kneeling on my knees and paddled again.  Paddle, paddle, paddle until finally I reached a dock on the other side that I clung to and rested.  Then I took the path of least resistance along the shoreline until I made it back to my launching spot.  

As I savored the feeling of victory alone, I pondered on Ms. Nyad's victory.  Sure, there were crowds cheering and media capturing her final moments when she reached Florida successfully.  What was it like, though, to have to face all those naysayers too?  From what I could see, it didn't seem to faze her.  She calmly and immediately took them on and squelched their call for foul play.  

While the weather and ocean experts explained the rare current that turned in her favor during her swim, I couldn't help but wonder, was there also a little help from upstairs?  Did God know that we really need a good shot of inspiration once in a while?  Or maybe God was showing us that if we really, really work hard at something, he won't let us fail.

Would you like to share an inspirational story about someone you admire?  In 500 words or less, tell me about that person or persons who have not only managed to climb out of a deep canyon, but went on to hike to a mountaintop.  I will select one guest blogger who will win a $25 Visa gift card and their entry will be posted on my weekly blog.  The entry deadline is September 30, 2013.  Email your blogpost to SusanAllisonDean@aol.com.  

Where were you on 9/11?  If you were living on the planet earth September 11, 2001, you have a story.   I am not going to tell you mine, I'm going to tell you the Aldermans.

Steve and Liz Alderman were vacationing with their next door neighbors in France, while I house sat for their neighbors dogs back in New York. It was there that they learned that back in New York their youngest son, Peter, who was at a conference at the Windows of The World, the very top of one of the World Trade Center Towers, when it collapsed.  Just when they thought they had successfully achieved  emptying their nest, and their young had flown off successfully, their lives were shattered.

The Aldermans arrived back home after weaving through the globe for several days due to the air traffic shut down.  Their car arrived from the airport in the wee hours of the morning on a dark night.  When I heard the car pull in the driveway, I cautiously went out to greet it.  I will never forget the catatonic look on both Steve and Liz's face as they sat in the back seat, staring forward.

The Aldermans were not the only one's who lost loved ones that day as we well know.  Many of the grieving survivors went on the create foundations, memorials and fight the evil they were confronted with by doing good.  The Alderman's amaze and inspire me because they not only fought back against evil, they went out and sought to find those left as victims of evil and help them. Despite their own gut wrenching  grief pain that they lived with, they began pulling those other survivors out of the trenches around the globe.

The Peter C. Alderman Foundation was established in 2002 in honor of their son Peter.  The Foundation's mission is to is to heal the emotional wounds of survivors of terrorism and mass violence by training indigenous health workers and establishing trauma treatment systems in post-conflict countries around the globe..  Since it's inception, the foundation has established has touched the lives of victims of terrorism in Cambodia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Haiti.  To Learn more about this heroic Foundation, please visit the website: www.petercaldermanfoundation.org

Do you have an inspirational superhero you want to tell us about?  Enter my Inspiration Superhero GuestBlog contest: In 500 words or less, tell me about that person or persons who have not only managed to climb out of a deep canyon, but went on to hike to a mountaintop.  I will select one guest blogger who will win a $25 Visa gift card and their entry will be posted on my weekly blog.  The entry deadline is September 30, 2013.  Email your blogpost to SusanAllisonDean@aol.com.