 
Delivered fresh on August 27th, 2012
Greetings!
He said that he would rather sleep on the floor. Recently, we had to deal with that irritation of checking into a hotel only to find that they are overbooked - the room with the two double beds that we booked, is gone. The only room that they have left has only one. He insists on sleeping on the floor so that we will not be uncomfortable. He refuses to have it any other way. Is it because of his kindness that I love him the way that I do? It is. Do I marvel at the level of his integrity? I do. Am I charmed again and again by his strength that is so often heard in the quiet? I am. And I, I would follow that man to the end of the earth. He is why, I too, would rather sleep on the floor. Dana DANA DELIVERED! User's Guide: 1) Open up your Dana Delivered! email. 2) Choose an article from the menu on the left hand side or just start from the beginning and read all the way through. 3) If you are reading an article and want to finish, Click on "Read More..." and you will be taken to our website. You can finish reading and while there, have a look around. Note: Dana's Dailies changes, well, daily so come back often. 4) Click on any of the words highlighted in red and you will be taken right to our site, DanaRoc.com. In INSPIRING PEOPLE: Dana talks with World Traveler Bob Harris and Author Julie Morse. Julie Morse has written a remarkable book based on the adventures of Bob Harris. Read Dana's EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Bob & Julie! Take a minute to read DANA'S WEEKLY INSIGHT and make sure that you listen to the AUDIO VERSION as well. There may be someone who needs you to pass that along. Check out DANA'S DAILIES for no other reason than to hopefully smile. And come back and visit the blog all week at www.danaroc.com/dailies. The special article FROM DANA'S GUESTS: this week is Man on the Moon: A Speech Delivered by President Kennedy. As President Obama declares space travel to Mars, a reflection on President Kennedy's once seemingly impossible goal! Check out AUGUSTE ROC'S MY TWO CENTS (For Whatever It Is Worth). There is something in it for YOU! While it may be "Two Cents" but you'll find it's worth a whole lot more. Feel free to email your comments to Auguste at auguste@danaroc.com. This week's THE GOOD LIFE : BOOKS selection is The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern by Carol Strickland. Everything that you always wanted to know about art history but were afraid you'd look too stupid if you asked... Something useful in THE GOOD LIFE : WEB SITES is One Nation this week. Check it out! And there's more so sit back, grab a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy. As always, thanks for reading! Stay cool. Be hungry. Never look back. Always reach back. Fear not. Believe always, Dana We're Not In Kansas Anymore
We've all heard it said before that "you can never go home again", because once you leave home you can't help but grow up. As a kid I can remember looking forward to the welcoming embrace of home. I can recall relying on its consistent ability to reassure, to soothe and to restore, and yet I was convinced sometimes that I was missing out on something better somewhere else. Growing up, home existed for me as both a monumental burden and as a respite from an unkind world. Always falling short of my private expectations, never coming close to satisfying the need that I had to feel like I was part of a bigger place, home would remain forever faithful and I, in return would spend night after night peering out of my bedroom window resentfully wishing that I could be somewhere far, far away and fantasizing that one day - I would finally be able to leave. I waved goodbye to my parents, reluctantly, and then I watched them peel off down the hot and dusty road that led back toward civilization. Buyer's remorse had already begun to set in. I had patiently listened to his sales pitch and with an open mind, so it didn't take long for him to reel me in. The promise of fun, fresh air and sleeping outside in a tent was appealing to me but it was in fact my father's description of the roasted marshmallow sandwiches with Hershey bar pieces melting inside that ultimately convinced me that Camp Bethel Horizon was the opportunity that I couldn't afford to miss. Suddenly I was looking forward to the adventure and I day dreamed about exactly what it would be like as I counted down the days. Little did I know however, that the day dream would almost immediately turn into a nightmare once the reality of being far away from home would sink in. Recalling my father's sales pitch as I emerged running and offended from the menacing outhouse, convinced that the grasshoppers and wasps were hot on my trail, I realized that there were a few little details that he had conveniently failed to include and I felt as though I had been deliberately misled: "What the hell has just happened here and who do I have to lobby to go home"!? My endless begging and my persistent pleading continued to fall on deaf ears and I had to deal with the fact that there was not a phone call to my parents and not a conversation with any of the grown ups in charge that was going to result in my early release. I was destined to serve out my full sentence and so I would have to find the resolve to somehow make it through. In hindsight, it wasn't that Camp Bethel Horizon was so bad, rather it was that I had failed to realize just how good that I had it - a warm bed, real food and a proper toilet without bugs, people who loved me and the luxury of just being able to be myself. Out there in the world and on my own for the first time, all I wanted was - to go home. They may say that you can never go home again because once you leave you can't help but to grow up. As a kid I figured that much out the hard way, but what I have also discovered as I have developed and as I have evolved, is that home is not merely a place that we can be separated from but rather it is a state of mind that we can choose to access from wherever we are. Imagine. I have struggled for most of my life to reconcile who I am and where I belong convinced sometimes that I am missing out on something better someplace else, but I have never been confused about the fact that where I come from is a constant source of strength. And you? Out there "on your own", in a world that can often feel so unkind, don't you wish sometimes that you could just go home again? When you are missing the familiar, while you are resisting the unknown, can't you appreciate now all the stuff that you used to resent? It is so much more than where we live and where we leave, it is where we discover our best and worst selves. It's greater than where we try on, occasion, to return, it's where we can make fools of ourselves and where we can always be exactly as we are. Home is where we belong! And I believe that you can in fact go home again because home has never really been about the place where we reside. It is, more than anything else, that forever faithful place that resides within our willingness to remember that - where we came from will continue to inform who we can become. Dana Have a great week!
  World Traveler Bob Harris and Author Julie Morse
Bob Harris has lived the kind of life that many of us dream of living but few of us will ever dare. Julie Morse has captured the spirit of adventure, mystery and elegance that define Bob Harris. DR: So the first question is for you, Bob. I am wondering - as I read the book and as I contemplate your life, I feel a little bit jealous and confronted by the fact that I haven't been quite so adventurous in my own life. Do you have any regrets? BH: Absolutely none. I might have made a little bit more money staying home but I'm nowhere near regretting it. DR: What is it really like to live the kind of life that most people only dream of? Is it all that it's cracked up to be? BH: Well it's not for everyone, to be honest with you. People envy you for getting on a plane and going somewhere halfway around the world for this or that adventure but when they are confronted with 12-15 hours on a plane half of them forget about it right there. The loneliness - if you travel alone which most of this is - you meet people along the way of course but, traveling alone bothers a lot of people. I would emphasize that it's not for everybody. Those who have a touch of it, it's the only way. It's like being born a writer or a musician. It's a calling and you go to it and you stay with it. DR: This sounds like something that you didn't question; that you dove right in to... BH: If you go back to my childhood, it began with my brother's stamp collection. When I was eight, ten, maybe twelve years old, my brother would go over all of theses stamps – commemorative stamps and special issues - and I knew all of rulers of all of the petty states of Europe by the time I was ten years old. It created in me some kind of a fascination with it and it stayed with me. When I had a chance to go, I went and that was the end. DR: Julie, what was it about Bob and his story that attracted you and compelled you to write a book based on his life? JM: Originally I thought of him as a man of intrigue. I met Bob through my husband who also works in the box and paper industry with Bob. He would come home over the years and tell me where Bob was traveling. I had a close friend in intelligence and when I heard that Bob was in Iraq and Iran and Afghanistan and Somalia, all of these strange places to go on vacation, I said to my husband, "I think Bob's in Intelligence". He said, "No. Bob works with me at the office. He just likes to go on vacation." Over the years it became a running joke between us until my husband mentioned it to a ninety-five year old man in the industry who suggested that I was not too far off. So then I called Bob and asked him if he would be interested in telling me his life story. That's how it began. I was rewarded on a much greater level than if he had been a James Bond-like character because Bob is so real and he is one of those people who decided early on to live out of the box and be...
 In Remembrance of Neil Armstrong
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