IV

I slept fairly well on Friday night. The hotel alarm clock woke me at about 7am on Saturday morning. It had one of the most interesting tones I've ever heard. It was somewhat soft, but still insistent. It really kept with the feel of the hotel as a place to find peace. From 7 to 8am, one could do yoga or meditation with a group of others. This portion was optional (can you imagine...mandatory meditation?) I thought about going that morning, but just didn't wanna get up that early. As I got ready, my wife said she was beat. I asked if she wanted to skip the first workshop. She said she did.

So off I headed once again to the Grand Ballroom, this time for a panel discussion with four authors: Debbie Ford, Cheryl Richardson, James Twyman, and most notably (for me) Neale Donald Walsch. I made sure to get there plenty early as I wanted to ensure I would get a better seat this morning than I had the night before. I was able to get a seat in the 8th row which almost directly faced the stage. This redhead sang a number of songs as the room gradually filled. Shortly after 8:30am, introductions were made and each author came out. I have to admit that I was quite excited to see Neale Donald Walsch. Let me give you some background on how I became familiar with his books:

In 1997, my fiancee' and I spent many a Saturday evening at the local Barnes & Noble. She would browse the psychology section while I looked mainly in the New Age/spiritual section. One of the best sellers at that time was a book called Conversations With God Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue. My beliefs at the time were that we live forever, life is a school in which we learn lessons, and that reincarnation is a reality. The title of the book was quite provocative, so I took a copy off the display and sat down with it. I had read many spiritual books over the past 4 years, but I could tell right away that this one was a doozy.

Conversations 1 had the answer to pretty much every major life question that one could think of (What is the meaning of life? Why is there suffering? Do aliens exist?) and was written in a way that even a child could understand. I devoured the book in a day or two. And I waited with great excitement for the insights that would be found in Book 2. I wasn't sure when it would be released, so imagine my surprise when I saw it on the New York Times bestseller list in the paper one weekend. I rushed out to B&N and picked it up. After finishing 2, I looked forward to getting the breathtaking finale, Book 3. One afternoon browsing at B&N, I found it in the New Non-Fiction section. Oh joy! I bought it and took it with me to my job (I worked at a video store). I read as much of it as I could when not waiting on customers. It was a very rousing conclusion to the saga and I frequently turned to the books in times of trouble and distress.

The excitment rubbed off on my fiancee' who also read most of the first book and found great comfort in it as well. It was a blast to be able to talk about soul stuff with her (her background is actually in the Jewish faith). As the years passed, more With God books were released and I purchased most all of them. I looked forward to each release. Some of the later books like Tomorrow's God had a bit of a been there, done that feel, but I knew they would always hold a special place in my heart. The only books I keep in my bedroom are the With God ones. I never thought that one day I might actually get to hear Neale talk in person, but it looked as if my dream was about to come true.