Day 9 - Dystonia and HGTV Day

I have had an AMAZING day and I can honestly say, having dystonia made it even better. I had to sit back a minute and ponder that. Never in a million billion years would I have thought I would have typed that first sentence, but it's true!!!

I work for an amazing company. I am truly, 100% blessed in that department. I work with outstanding people and at my dream job. Today was pure fun. All day. Amazing fun (even the work part of it!). As you can probably tell from the title of this blog post, I work for HGTV. Actually, I work for its parent company Scripps Networks Interactive. I LOVE my job!!!! I knew from age 13 that I wanted to work here and now, I do :) I am blessed!!!!!!!!!

Today we celebrated HGTV's 20th anniversary. It was a blast. The governor of Tennessee was there as was the mayor of our city. The place was decked out. Hollywood had arrived :) There was going to be an employee event that would take place later in the day. I was ecstatic because some of the stars of HGTV were going to be there. The only problem: dystonia and that darn walker I have to use! But this time, both turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I was contacted the day before about special provisions for those needing assistance to the event. It was going to be a little bit of a walk. I, at first, balked at the idea - I could do it myself! But then, I wised up :) I decided, I was going to embrace my quirks and be humble and ask for help. And help I got! They rolled out the red carpet for me (and I do mean this LITERALLY!!) I had NO clue what was in store for me. I thought I'd just be getting a ride over to the event instead of having to walk. WRONG!

Not only did I get a police escort (I kid you not, although it was actually just a police officer driving a Scripps car with me and some others in it!), but I got inside the building where the festivities were taking place BEFORE anyone else got to go in. I thought that was enough. But then, I started seeing "stars" come in: Genevieve Gorder, Vanilla Ice....and I started snapping pictures:

They decided to get a group picture with all the stars and the Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of our company. I again took pictures and then - well then, came my surprise. I was going to get a group picture with all the stars and with the Chairman and CEO. I felt like royalty. I felt like I was going to cry. What had I done? NOTHING, but have dystonia and walk with a walker.

Something else amazing happened. The Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scripps Networks Interactive asked what was wrong with me. I told him it was a neurological disorder called dystonia. His response? "I know what that is! My cousin has it." WHAT?!!!! The Chairman and CEO of my company - a national and international cable company, knows what dystonia is!!! This is amazing. Unbelievable. Astounding. And, completely and totally humbling. He is the kindest and the most sincere person I've ever met at that level of success. I have nothing but the highest praise for him and I am BLESSED beyond measure to work for Scripps Networks Interactive!

So after hob-knobbing with the big wigs of the company and the stars of HGTV, I actually got to meet all the stars one-on-one and get my picture with them! All the employees got to do this. That's how great our company is! So here's the list of stars I got to "rub elbows" with: Chris and Peyton Lambton, JD Scott, Drew Scott, Jonathan Scott, Chip and Joanna Gaines, Scott McGillivray, Nicole Curtis, Genevieve Gorder, David Bromstad, Josh Temple, Anthony Carrino, John Colaneri, and Vanilla Ice (yes, the rapper!). Rick Dees (Top 40, Rick Dees!) was also there (he was Scripps Networks Interactive's Chairman and CEO Ken Lowe's college roommate).

I have to say something about Josh Temple. He is absolutely the funniest guy. He's a charmer :) I had met him earlier in the day, so when I walked up to him on the red carpet later this evening he called me by name. Did you get that? He remembered my name!! How awesome is that? Here's this star of HGTV and he remembered my name. That impressed me to no end. I told a co-worker (who's responsible for booking all these stars to come to events like this) that Josh remembered my name and she said, "well of course he would remember you! It's all in your eyes. You have beautiful eyes." Seriously?! How did I get so blessed to be complimented like that? These people - every single person - from the higher ups in the company, to the stars of HGTV, to my fellow co-workers have completely blessed my socks off!

Another highlight: I had a co-worker (a much-higher-up-the-totem-pole co-worker!) tell me that he thought my charm was my whole package (meaning the dystonia and the walker). He said that I have charm!! So sweet :) And it definitely made this girls day!

All I can say is I'm actually kind of thankful for dystonia today. How is that possible?!! Well, God makes all things possible and He's shown me today that even with dystonia I can hob-knob with stars and I can enjoy life. I got VIP status today because of dystonia. For all of it, I am blessed and so very, very thankful!!!