Taking A Risk Towards "Franchittiland"

Taking A risk is a hard and challenging thing to do. I am one to not take risks and play it safe. If you read my first blog titled, "Michelle Arrose: A Teacher's Journey to Literary Success," I mentioned three intriguing people that I believe would be a wonderful asset to promoting my book. I mentioned Tony Danza who just recently wrote a book on how he owes his teacher's an apology. I also mentioned the infamous Robert Deniro. Last, but definitely not least, I mentioned Ashley Judd as she is an excellent orator. I also admire her intelligence. Well, my way of reaching out to her was through her other half. I really did not want to do this at first. However, my husband believes in my novella and reinforced me to take action in order to market it. I often ask him if he believes in my book because he is my husband? However, he is an educator as well and feels for the main character, Karen Woolsworth's dilemma's and what she has faced. A couple of months ago, my husband told me that Dario Franchitti, Ashley Judd's husband, would race on Labor Day weekend in Baltimore, Maryland. My husband suggested we go and it is a known fact that race car drivers tend to have autograph sessions. He suggested that I give him a copy of my manuscript that he can read and pass it on to his wife. Shyly, I told my husband that he should hand it to Mr. Franchitti while I hide on the bleachers. We booked tickets to the racing event and got a great deal on a hotel. I guess the reason I did not want to do this was that I did not want to face rejection. However, my husband always says that if you don't take a chance, you will never know. "Those that don't take chances will never live their dreams." Besides if nothing comes out of this, I made sure to make dinner plans with my sister and brother in law as they both live in Maryland. I also would get to have a unique experience watching a race which is a cool thing to do. Time marched on and before we knew it, we had three days before our trip. I edited my novella for the umpteenth time and was ready to place it in an envelope for Mr. Franchitti. There were manuscript papers all over the place and I had to make sure everything was coordinated in chronological order. I also was under a deadline as my manuscript was due before the end of August to the publishing company that I am working with. As we were finally ready for our adventure, I started to feel a sense of courage. I told my husband that I would be glad to hand Mr. Franchitti my manuscript if given the opportunity. I believe in my novella as well and know that people could get a better understanding of the educational world and see what teachers face on a daily basis if they read it. However, my husband did last minute research for the race schedule. He observed that on Sunday there would be no autographing session and we had tickets for Sunday. I told my husband that we both did not research this event correctly and knew at this point, we would not meet Mr. Franchitti. I was so looking forward to handing him my manuscript, not because of Ms. Judd, but because I was really interested in his opinion as well or just knowing that he read it is an honor. I do have respect for him as he has a treacherous job and faces it courageously when he is out on the track. My husband called the track and they said that when we go down, at best we could possibly meet a rep. I knew going down there my chances were slim to none. However, I had dinner plans with my sister and brother in law Saturday night and was happy about that. Sunday finally came and we left for the race. We walked around the race area and asked security where we could find a rep. They told us to try rhe Convention Center. We walked inside the building and saw some race car games set up for children. However, I was carrying my envelope with me and was hoping to find a rep. We saw the most adorable man that reminded me of Morgan Freeman. We asked him how we could find a rep and he said if we don't have a Paddock Pass then we might have difficulty finding a rep. The Paddock Pass allows you to go into the grarage where the driver's are. I felt so sad at the moment and we told the man our reason why we were there. Being the negative person that I could be at times, I told this man I would probably never find a rep. The man said that I will find one and he would show us where the garage was. He did mention that he is really not supposed to leave his post. We both said that we did not want him to get into trouble. He chuckled and said that he's ready to retire anyway. He escorted us to the garage area where we were greeted by a race car which was kind of neat. There we were told that if we wanted to go into the garage, we had to buy a ticket to upgrade us into the Paddock area. We decided that we would go for it and bought the tickets. We went into the garage and sure enough saw Franchitti's truck. Scott Dixon, another famous Indy race car driver was doing autographs and taking pictures with fans. He appeared to be a very kind, friendly man. After a while Mr. Franchitti came out of his truck. I so wanted to give him my manuscript but could tell that he was unapproachable at this time. He hopped on a motorcycle and drove off ignoring all his fans. At first I was taken back by this. However then I thought about it and he appeared to look upset. I know I have no right to judge him as something could have happened to his car that could have upset him. It's funny how if a person appears snooty or unapproachable, you may classify them as a snob. However, it is not fair to do that. No one knows what the other person is thinking or feeling and we have to be big enough of a person not to judge. My husband did meet a rep, Mr. Sampson and he promised to put the manuscript in Mr. Franchitti's lounge. It is only up to Franchitti to take the time out and read it. Afterwards, we walked around and met a really cool driver named Charlie Kimball. Unfortunately, he is a diabetic and because of this he drives for this cause which I found to be a wonderful and admirable thing for him to do. A family member of mine has diabetes and therefore anyone that participates in something for this cause really touches my heart strings. Later we went back to the garage where we again saw Dario ride off on his bike. He was three feet at the most, away from us. How cool is that? Anyway, the exciting race began and this was my first racing event. I found it to be an interesting, unique sport to view which was a lot of fun. I do admit that I don't enjoy seeing a car crash and smoke come under it lighting up the pavement. Well, I some what accomplished what I set out to do. My negative inner beastly being fears that he may discard and throw away my hard work. However, I would hope that he would not do that and would respect someone's work. My husband tells me that he believes he would read it at his leisure and lectures me that I need to believe in myself more and to have faith in humanity. I know he is right. My advice to you is not to give into your negative inner being as it could eat you up. My other advice is not to judge someone as you will never know the true reason for the picture the person is displaying in front of you. Unless you have a crystal ball, you don't know the future, but I guess if you don't take a risk and face possible rejection, you will never know.