The Angel Angle Issue #11
Three pinned topics to jump start your day.
It’s July 2nd which means I’m a day late getting out my newsletter. I made it ten months straight, almost the full year I gave myself to commit to writing and sending out one newsletter each month, the first of the month, no matter what. It was a streak I was proud of because it’s not always easy sitting down and writing, even though I really do enjoy doing it.
Yesterday, I just straight up forgot. My whole day was disrupted by a string of unfortunate events at work and when I got home, I took my boys to the pool, watched Uruguay defeat the US in soccer (bummer), and went to bed. Normally I don’t wait until the last minute to write the Angel Angle and had I even thought about it last night, even if I had already laid down to go to bed, I’d have written and sent it.
Life happens and luckily this isn’t a deadline that has any serious consequences if missed. Either way, I’m glad you’re here and if you enjoy the content, please share it with others.
This month’s SHARE happened this past April. My wife “dragged” me to an event I ended up being one of three guys at. It was former Bachelorette star, Kaitlyn Bristowe’s Pour Decisions Tour. We shared an intimate evening with Kaitlyn and her guest, former Bachelorette star Hannah Brown, listening to them recap stories from their time on the show. After a short time there, I learned that everyone was really there for the juicy gossip. Was I out of place? Yes. Did I have fun? I always find a way.
At some point in the show, Kaitlyn connected with a woman in the audience who shared her story about her recent divorce. While that’s not a situation I wish for anyone, I realize it happens and in some cases, it really is the right thing to do. This woman was extremely vulnerable in what she shared and her underlying message to everyone there was that it’s never too late to be happy.
I had brought a few copies of my book and some angels to give to Kaitlyn when we met her after the show so I happened to have books with me. At intermission, I decided to go introduce myself to this woman and give her a signed book and some angels to wish her good luck and safe journeys with her new life path.
I told her about my grandparents, the book, the angels, and then I gave her a signed copy. She was very moved by my gesture, we took a picture together and hugged. I figured that was the last time I’d hear from her. Then a few weeks ago, I received this handwritten card in the mail, from a name I recognized as the customer who bought 250 angel pins from me in May, my largest angel pin order yet!
It reads:
Dearest Nick,
I am Kat. We met in Kansas City in April @ Kaitlyn’s show @ the Funny Bone. The story of your Grandfather was very inspiring! Once back home in Southern Oregon (after a 6,000 mile solo trip) it was such an honor to read your book The Angel Man, and start purchasing and sharing his guardian angel pins myself.
You probably won’t achieve 1 million pins distributed by the end of my lifetime…but you will in yours.
Much love and peace,
Kat
I shared with Kat at the show that my Gran had passed out nearly 1 million pins and that it was now my mission to pass out the next million. With more Kat’s in this world, a million more pins will be no problem at all!
My SHOUT for July goes out to my son Whit! This month there were a couple of big firsts for our firstborn, and I couldn’t be more proud!
For as long as I can remember, I have pictured the big day when I’d pack up Whit and his bike, sans training wheels, and head to a wide open school parking lot to teach him how to ride his bike. Up until now, Whit has been able to ride a strider bike but hasn’t had any interest in me taking off his training wheels to teach him to ride his big bike without them.
Two weeks ago after 11 hours in the car driving home from Colorado, I unloaded his bike I brought with us and stood it up against the car so I could continue unpacking. To store the bikes easier in the car, I took off he and his brother’s training wheels.
Without realizing Whit had snagged the bike, I suddenly noticed him whipping by me on his bike smiling and laughing. I had to do a double take because it was then I realized, he was riding without training wheels, and without me needing to show him how.
Days later, I went to pick the boys up from Maddie’s parents’ house and they were swimming in the pool. Whit was really proud to show me how far into the deep end he could jump and swim back to the stairs. He was so confident I started pushing for him to go off the diving board, something he hadn’t yet attempted.
He was plenty content with jumping off the ground into the deep end and swimming back. Not even me getting up on the board to show him how easy it was could coerce him into giving it a try. I couldn’t coax him with a popsicle either.
I grabbed their things and started heading to the car to load up while they finished swimming and similar to him riding his bike, Whit decided it was time to jump off the diving board. Not on my terms or anyone else’s. On his. The way Whit likes it.
It’s funny how as parents, we imagine what the future will look like for our kids. We craft the perfect scenarios and situations and then boom, without warning, our five year old takes matters into his own hands and rewrites a chapter of his story.
Get out your red, white, and blue the month of July to celebrate America and the great country we live in! This year, I’m not leaving all of the celebrations and appreciation to one day…I’m rocking everything USA for the whole month. You should too!
UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS:
-The new Angel Man website will be launching in the coming weeks
-We will be launching our Instagram page later this year to feature additional SHARE, SHOUT, and SHINE topics.
—If you’d like me to come speak to your group, please contact me at angelmanbook@gmail.com
—I am now accepting bulk orders for schools, churches, and other organizations.