Imagine your feet firmly planted in the chocks, you’re so filled with anticipation you almost want to jump the cracking of the starter’s gun. You feel awesome and can’t wait any longer. The gun signals your start and you’re off.

Two weeks ago that was my position. But Friday I was hit head on with my biggest wall – my health. I’ve never shared my health with you, and with reason. I want the site to be more about helping you. And yet, maybe by telling my story you can benefit. So here we go.

I was born in Michigan, but soon moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas as my parents were called into the ministry. They asked their pastor where they should go to Bible school, and Texas was the answer. At around 11, my parents felt called to the the jungles of the Amazon in Brazil. As a kid, you can imagine, I was in paradise. I felt like Tarzan and Indiana Jones all rolled into one.

Most people ask about the food. And the food there was pretty good. Fresh everything. So I can’t attribute any health challenges to living in the jungle. I graduated from high school there full of life and dreams.

Back in Texas, where I ended up, I did need some dental work done. Not sure if this was because of the fact we grew up eating hard candy in the ’60′s, but I had a mouthful of trouble.

The dentist said he couldn’t help me that day. Too much swelling. He told me to take this new antibiotic out on the market that I would have wonderful results. Little did I know that small prescription would change my life forever.

I did take the prescription, but had a horrible reaction to it. I broke out all over in a rash that painfully itched.

So, I did like most anyone else would and headed to my General Practice doctor and asked for him to take a look at it. Naturally, and this is important to follow, he did not look too much to the cause but to the effect. His prescription (to counteract the first one) was Prednisone.

The Prednisone, if you’re not familiar with it, is a form of cortisone and it did make the rash disappear. But as soon as I ran out of the medicine, the rash came back! I went back to my doctor and he gave up… and sent me to a dermatologist. A biopsy later, I was diagnosed with Dermatitis Herpetiformis.

Dermatitis Herpetiformis is sorta like it sounds. Has to do with the dermis – layer of the skin, and the effect does look a lot like herpes. Thinking back, I never thought – great, I have herpes – I just wanted to find a cure. This isn’t herpes. What it is, is a form of Celiac. I asked the dermatologist, OK…what now? And he had two answers.

First, I could take Dapsone, or… simply stop eating anything that has wheat gluten in it.

What? Did I hear that right? No more wheat in my diet? That’s right – eliminate everything and the painful blisters that had made their way around my knuckles and joints would be gone.

You know, at this stage in my life, I wasn’t totally on board with healthy foods and living. I admit, I loved the high fructose corn syrup, fat filled foods. So I accepted the dapsone prescription, and went on my way – still not knowing what was happening in this stage of my life. I was simply following doctor’s orders.

In my next update, I’ll tell you the single choice I made that added years to my life, and my advice to anyone with allergies – a simple tip that could get your life back.

We decided this year to go to the Naples 4th of July parade held on 5th Avenue to show our support for our country.  And it was fun and full of everything you’d expect from a small town on the Gulf of Mexico.  But what snagged my attention was the challenge our daughter was having getting any candy thrown from the floats.

It’s a tradition in many parades here in US that the people on the floats throw hard candy to the kids lined up along the parade route.

Rachel, our seven year old, wanted to get strategically positioned to get as much as she could as the parade passed by in all its glory.  She wriggled her way through a couple of families and got right out on the front line.  Perfect.

However, after a bit she returned and we both asked why?  The position seemed perfect, but Rachel said that there was big competition.  A couple of older girls and a younger girl were there at the same place.  It would be impossible to get anything.

We coached her a bit saying that there will be plenty and so she returned to her position.  But it didn’t last long.  After about 5 minutes, she returned saying she really didn’t want candy anyway and that candy wasn’t good for you and she just wanted to find somewhere to sit.

I thought of how much what she was going through was like many of the people I see in Network Marketing, or any marketing for that matter.

They go out and position themselves for maximum exposure, but then find out that’s where the big dogs hang out, too.  And then after a little coaching, they return but give up saying they just aren’t cut out for that, or that they really didn’t want that anyway.

But then, the dad and coach that I am, I showed Rachel that she needed to ask for the candy and people would go out of their way to give it to her.  So, reluctantly she returned to the front lines.

Then it happened.  When a big float full of people with bags of candy went by she looked up and held out her hand as if asking for the candy.  Two people threw a handful at her!  The other “dogs” or girls there waiting for candy were not doing this, so people were drawn to the open hand first.

Then something unexpected happened that really was fun to watch.

Rachel had turned the open hand into something else.  She would wave at the floats as they passed by – and that would catch their attention.  And once she had their attention, she then turned that wave into an open hand asking for candy.

Wow!  It worked SO well!  And I thought this is just what we need to do everyday.  Get their attention, and then not forget to ask for the sale.  Ask – it opens so many doors.

Rachel still has a big bag of candy at home and is proud to tell you the story of how she got it.