i called my favorite ex-roommate the other day to make sure her house wasn’t under water. she moved to houston after college and when i caught up to her she was in transit, seeking shelter in ft. worth for a few days. “did i tell you i’m a booking agent now?” i asked. she laughed then said “of course you are.” anyone who knows me can attest that i always have a hundred different irons in a hundred different fires; always bouncing around, never settling on one thing.
i don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. i’ve always been on a journey to find ways to meld my loves and passions. being an artist/designer/booking agent these days is one way of doing that… and i’m finally putting my music business degree to good use, so i know my parents are pleased. 
my favorite part of being an agent is getting to know my clients and hearing their story and why they do what they do.
today, i met christopher coleman. when he was born in 1973, he was pronounced dead. seven minutes later, his twin sister was born and when she came out crying, chris started crying. because there had been no oxygen to his brain for so long, the doctors said he wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or think. he would basically be a vegetable in a wheelchair for his whole life.
as he grew up, he wasn’t talking but he was actively thinking. at night, he would take his sister’s textbooks in the bathroom while everyone was asleep. he’d heard people talk in class and on tv and based on the pictures in the books, he taught himself to read. one day, after surprising his mom by something he read on television she decided to have his IQ tested. chris was reading on a 9th grade level. by the age of 20, chris graduated 5th in his class out of 300+ seniors. later on, he moved from louisiana to georgia on his own and pursued a college degree in communications. graduating made him the only one in his family to have a college diploma.
now, chris travels around speaking in both church and corporate settings and i was sitting at a table in a borders cafe on west end taking all this in.
today now 34, chris smiles. he jokes, he laughs, and his heart is bursting with love for people. christopher is bound to a wheelchair, defying odds and living! …what’s stopping us from having this quality of life?
