Don't quit before the miracle

It's not very often in life when you get the opportunity to meet a celebrity or one of your heroes growing up. On Thursday night of last week I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Theo Fleury. He's been doing speaking engagements titled "Don't quit before the miracle" and goes into great detail about the fight he waged against drug and alcohol addiction. I messaged Theo on Wednesday when I noticed that he would be down in Toronto at Forest Hill Collegiate doing one of these engagements and thought it would be the perfect time to get him to autograph the guitar I airbrushed for the charity I'm 1in5. He said he would love to do it and would meet with me afterward to sign it. I drove down to the city guitar in hand hoping that I wouldn't be let down not having met Theo personally. I sat through Theo's very moving tale of courage and hope and during the questionaire saw his brother Ted.. I approached Ted and mentioned to him that I was supposed to meet up with Theo after and explained that it had all been arranged previously. The moment of truth. To my astonishment Ted had heard of me and said to follow him up to the stage while Theo was signing autographs. I saw the lineup for signatures and figured oh great, this isn't going to happen. Ted looked at me and said, follow me. He took me right up onto the stage with Theo. I was in awe. Ted leaned over too Theo, tapped him on the shoulder and said that I was there and Theo reached over and shook my hand and said it was a pleasure to meet me. He looked at the guitar and signed it right then and there. I was dumbfounded. I asked if I could get a picture with him and he said when he was done to go backstage with him for the photo. Again, dumbfounded and in awe. I waited for the photo opportunity and the moment came. I had my Mom with me as she is my biggest supporter, and we both went backstage. Theo signed a hockey card for her and I handed off mom the camera and she snapped a couple shots. I took the opportunity to thank Theo so much for everything and with a firm handshake it was done. I saw Ted and thanked him as well. What an awesome individual.

Thank you Theo.