Small Things
Tim Woodward, a local columnist of many years for the Idaho Statesman, Idaho’s largest newspaper, is retiring and the paper invited readers to write in stories of how he influenced their lives. I thought my story may be unique. Here it is.
Tim Really Did Change My Life
Tim is responsible for changing my life dramatically and he is (I am sure) blissfully unaware of this – until, now. It is time he knew, and past time to say thanks.
Back in January 1987 I was experimenting with making a living with a hobby I had for many years – handwriting analysis. It was kind of tough getting customers so I had the bright idea of contacting Tim Woodward about writing an article about me. Here’s what I thought would be an interesting article:
Tim would gather a number of samples of unsigned handwriting from the Statesman staff and give them to me to analyze. I would have no idea of who each sample belonged to so it would be an interesting test of my accuracy in analysis.
As I thought about doing this I grew kind of nervous, especially as I reflected on some of Tim’s past articles. If Tim thinks someone is fraudulent or trying to put something over on you then he’ll go for the jugular. I weighed the possibility that I may not be accurate enough for him and he may declare me a shyster and I’d have to hide under a rock for years to come.
I decided to take the chance and gave him a call and ran the idea past him. He responded by telling me that they had done something on handwriting recently and it was too soon to do anything now.
That seemed to be the end of that. I was almost relieved that I wasn’t putting my head on a possible chopping block.
Then mysteriously, a couple days later Tim called me back and said he was interested in doing the article after all and for me to come to the Statesman office and pick up some handwriting samples. He gave me a couple days to go over them and then I’d give him the analysis.
After I picked up the samples and took a look, I saw that the Statesman staff was composed of a wide range of personalities and talent – an interesting group to analyze.
A couple days later Tim woke me up with a phone call at about 7:30 in the morning wanting me to give him the analysis over the phone. This was a possible problem because I am a night person who retires in the wee hours of the morning and I rarely arise before 9:00 AM. If awakened before 8 AM I am not even sure where I am.
Anyway, I figured I needed to go for it rather than ask for more time and I analyzed the handwritings one by one.
After I was finished, I was still half asleep and could barely remember what I said. This may have been the worst analysis I have ever given, I thought. I could just see Tim’s headline now: “Crazy Incoherent Man Thinks He Can Analyze Handwriting.”
I was very nervous in waiting for the article to come out, but then on Jan 25, 1987 there it was. Tim liked my analysis, thought it was surprisingly accurate and the article was very positive.
Then at the end of the article he wrote an unexpected sentence that changed my life. He mentioned that I told him I was going to give a seminar at the Holiday Inn that weekend and expected it to be interesting.
Now I’ve done a lot of things in my life that required advertising but I’ve never had an ad as powerful as this good word from Tim. Even though there was no contact information or specific details, the phone started ringing off the hook right after I finished reading the article. For the next couple days all I did was answer calls from people wanting details about the seminar. It wasn’t long before all the available space was full and we had to schedule a second seminar to accommodate everyone. Within a day that filled up also.
So how did all this change my life?
Simple answer. One of the people who read Tim’s article and called me was my future wife. We have been happily married now since 1988.
Tim has been unaware the many times I thought about him as I have enjoyed my relationship with her over the years. If Tim had not changed his mind and given me that call, if he had not written a positive article, if he had not mentioned the seminar, if just one small thing had been different I may have never met her. She’s also been a central character in three books I have written and published. Even these would not exist as is without Tim.
Thanks, Tim, for the ironic twist of fate. You’ll always have a soft spot in both of our hearts.
Little drops of water, little grains of sand, Make the mighty ocean, and the pleasant land: So the little minutes, humble though they be, Make the mighty ages of eternity. Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, Help to make earth happy, like Heaven up above. – Julia Carney
May 23, 2011
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