Open Hearts Open Doors.

Hi, everyone.

Well, Day One on the road went better than I could have anticipated. Lunch with Mattie was awesome; it was great to catch up with my charming and handsome son, but I wasn't prepared for the sadness I felt when we said our goodbyes in front of his apartment around 1:00pm. Thanksgiving, blessedly, is right around the corner. (And, I'm due back in New England on November 15th, his 21st birthday!!)

From Syracuse University, I drove to North Syracuse where I had the privilege of meeting a wonderful woman I've been Facebook friends with for a number of years, but never actually met face-to-face. Kimberly Balch, thanks for inviting me to your workplace! It was great to meet you and your crew, and to share some of my work.

I spent the rest of the afternoon driving to Buffalo where I got to meet Marivi and her dad, John Howell. Marivi is the youngest Airbnb host in the country, and at 17 years of age, she is a beauty pageant queen and honor student. Her innkeeping efforts at her parents' historic arts and crafts home in the heart of Buffalo, allow her to underwrite her pageant expenses as well as help out with her private school education. Great folks!!!

John Howell directed me to the shops in Elmwood Village where I made a few sales calls. One in particular, Talking Leaves Books, showed promise. More will be revealed in the days to come, and I'm glad my e-commerce website is, at last, functional. While the afternoon itself was rainy, I did manage to take my camera out and shoot a few random images.

Turns out that fellowship in Buffalo is alive and well, and I attended a fabulous Emotional Sobriety discussion meeting tonight. I am always amazed at how quickly a room full of strangers can become fast friends when the sharing is from the heart. Open hearts open doors.

Thanks for tracking along with me, everyone. I'm going to post a few images to Earth's School Of Love fan page, and then call it a day.  I'm leaving Buffalo at 5:00am tomorrow so I can drive to Niagara Falls, cross the border into Canada, and then down through Michigan to meet Sheri Skinner, a woman I knew back in Rhode Island at least 20 years ago. It will be great to meet again!