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Guest Post, Used with Permission, from Gail Godwin of InspireMeToday.com:

InspireMeToday Brings Inspiration to Iraq

Inspiration has always been a very special part of my life. For many years I’ve listened to upbeat music on my iPod when I worked out aerobically at the gym. But, on the mornings that I did weight training, I would listen to books on tape- inspirational messages from people like Jack Canfield, Wayne Dyer or one of many others. Those morning inspirational messages shifted my whole attitude, increased my creativity, productivity and overall attitude throughout the day. It didn’t take long to realize that the quality of my day was directly tied to the quality of my morning inspiration. Just like we feed our bodies in the morning, I believe that it is necessary to feed our soul too.

Once I realized the impact quality inspiration was having on my life, I searched for new information continually. My personal need to be inspired became a part-time job. I didn’t want to listen to the same information or even the same person over and over again, so I expanded my search to include a wide variety of amazing luminaries. Friends and family started borrowing my library and I watched as their lives improved as a result of this inspiration. From that experience and my passionate desire to share inspiration with others, I booked the name InspireMeToday.com in 2004.

But it’s funny how sometimes God seems to have different plans for us or our timing just isn’t right. My daughter, Carly, has always been incredibly talented musically, being offered a role in Les Miserable on Broadway at 7 years old, to acting in commercials for Hallmark, Kodak and others. She was even on the Wonder Years as a child. However, her great talent, love and passion was singing. She has the crystal clear voice of an angel. I’ve always promised her that when the time was right, if it was something she wanted, I would move mountains to help her achieve her dream of being a top recording artist. As she graduated from college in 2004, the time was right. She moved to Nashville and asked for my help.

Financially as a single mom, things were tight at times, even though I had real estate assets. Knowing how rare her talent was and believing wholeheartedly in her commitment, I sold my dream piece of real estate, Dreaming Bear Ranch, in Montana, to fund my daughter’s music career. I started working as her manager and formed a record label in Nashville to promote her, called Dreaming Bear Music. Billboard Magazine wrote a story where they talked about the Goodwin family literally “bet the farm”, or in this case the ranch, on Carly’s success.

In the fall of 2004 I woke from a dream in which Carly, by then a rising Nashville recording artist, was performing on stage, singing a song I’d never heard before, repeating it over and over. I scribbled the song in my journal while half asleep at 2am. In the morning I found the almost illegible song, called my daughter, and shared it with her. She was less than interested in hearing it, but despite her constant reminder of, “Mom, you’re not a songwriter… I live in Nashville and hang out with songwriters: keep your day job, I flew to Nashville and met with Carly and #1 hit songwriter, Gerald Smith. In 15 minutes our song, Baby Come Back Home, was complete.

Within days the song was recorded by Carly and with the help of Mark Victor Hansen and Alex Mandossian, was released as an audio postcard on the Internet. The song, sung from the perspective of a soldier’s wife to her husband in Iraq, honors the unrecognized, often unnoticed, sacrifices of a soldier’s wife. Baby Come Back Home became an “anthem” embraced by military families around the world. Within a month there were more than half a million web hits on Carly’s site. Invitations started pouring in from troops and their families for Carly to perform all over the country.

After many visits to military bases throughout the country, we were invited to Guantanamo Bay. During the first trip there, a young Marine named Chris shared with me how he felt unappreciated by the average American. This was during the prison trials at Gitmo, when the Marines in Cuba were on trial in the court of American opinion. President Bush and his administration were losing the support of the American people more each day. Chris was doing a difficult job and felt unappreciated and unloved by America. As hard as I tried to convince him otherwise, he didn’t believe that the average American could differentiate between support for the Bush Administration and our policy in Iraq, versus support for the troops. Chris felt like America didn’t support him personally.

Determined to show Chris and his fellow troops the love and support of a grateful nation, I came back to Nashville with a plan. The Baby Come Back Home Soldier Scrolls were launched in Nashville at the Country Music Festival. We unrolled the tail end of an unprinted newspaper scroll, spread it across a table, tossed out a handful of colorful Sharpies and invited the public to write their own personal message of love and support. In just 4 days of continually rolling scrolls and multiple trips to get more paper, the scrolls grew to an astounding SEVEN MILES long. I was beyond impressed, surprised and very inspired! I also realized we were on to something. By looking to be of service, magic was happening.

A sample of the scrolls

On the third day, someone waiting in the long line to sign the scrolls asked Carly and I what we were going to do with the scrolls when they were full. Without missing a beat I answered that we were going to deliver them to Iraq, to the troops that needed to see America’s love and support the most. Surprised by my answer, Carly looked at me with one of her Mom, we should have talked about this first looks. She thought I was crazy. What she didn’t know in that moment was that I was as surprised by my response as she was. Sometimes I wonder where that answer came from. We had no military connection and Iraq was half a world away. Who were we to do something like this? How would we get to and from Iraq safely? I just knew in my heart that it was the right thing to do and that somehow, the answer would show up, even if I didn’t have the foggiest notion as to how.

Over the next month, we partnered with Southwest Airlines to allow more people across America to sign the scrolls. Carly performed concerts in airport terminals around the country while I invited people to share their gratitude with our troops, by writing their own message of love and support. Friends and family joined us and supported our efforts. The scrolls grew and grew. Phone calls were made, momentum increased and an invitation came for us to visit our troops in Iraq and deliver the scrolls.

Just two weeks before we left for a 29-day tour of Iraq and 6 other countries in the Persian Gulf, the scrolls were signed by members of our Congress in the U.S. Capitol building in DC. On that momentous day, lying on a very long table at the foot of a 20′ tall painting of George Washington, the scrolls broke 18 MILES in length! I think George would have been proud of us.

In January 2006 after two years and visits to many US bases, three trips to Guantanamo Bay and regular ongoing visits to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit with the wounded troops, Carly, her band and I set off on a tour of Iraq and the Persian Gulf. We took our prized scrolls, broke them into 18 sections of at least a mile each and delivered one to each of 18 bases on the 29-day tour. We literally wrapped each base with more than a mile of messages of love and support from America.

As the scrolls were unfurled, troops gathered around to read messages from “I miss you Daddy, Love Scooter”, to “I want to marry a Marine” with a young girl’s email address. The scrolls contained messages from celebrities and regular folks alike, from 2 to 100 years old, from 48 states and more than 13 countries. No matter where they were from, our troops got to experience a little bit of home. As one soldier said, “Wow, that person is from my hometown!” And for that moment in time, even though he was in the middle of the desert of Iraq, he was home. In his mind and in his heart he had something tangible and something familiar. He felt loved and appreciated. He felt “Home”.

Scrolls delivered to the USS Pearl Harbor in the Persian Gulf

What this experience proved to me is that when the dream is big enough, doors will be opened. I had no idea how I was going to keep the promise I spontaneously made to deliver the scrolls to Iraq, but I didn’t need to know how it would happen. It was much more important to know THAT it would happen rather than HOW it would happen. The Universe had it figured out and all I had to do was show up and do my part.

At the most remote base, Al Q’aim, I met a young man named Jesse. Because we volunteered to visit bases that had never had entertainment, we were at a very remote base in northwestern Iraq just 6 miles from the Syrian border. This was so remote that the 3000+ Marines stationed there had never had entertainment in the 3-1/2 years since the base had opened. They literally built a plywood stage the day before Carly’s concert and were still hanging camo nets on the concrete walls trying to create a good acoustic quality.

After Carly’s show a young man named Jesse came up to me in a very shy way and asked me for a “mom hug”. He explained that he’d just turned 19 and that it had been 9 months and 4 days since he’d been touched. He was actually able to tell me the exact date of his last hug. He missed his mom. He missed home. Jesse explained to me that he’d been off base for the last month and had just arrived back on base less than 15 minutes before we met. I was so moved, smiled and reached out to give him a big hug. He stepped back, put his hands up and told me that before I said “Yes”, I needed to know more. He proceeded to explain that his job required him to live in a ditch- alone for 30-40 days at a time. He was one of more than 800 Marines who guard this stretch of desert, coming back to the base for a few days every month or so. Jesse apologized and told me that he hadn’t had a shower in 37 days but asked if he could still have his hug. I pulled him close and gave him the biggest, warmest “Mom hug” that I could. We were both moved to tears. It broke my heart when he told me that I smelled like home.

We talked for a bit and I asked Jesse how he survives a month at a time, living in a ditch with no interaction with other people. I explained that I didn’t think I could live in my house for 30-40 days with no interaction, let alone in a ditch in Iraq. He smiled, reached back into his backpack, pulled out his iPod and said, “I’m always looking for good inspiration, Ma’am”.

I felt like God literally tapped me on the shoulder- big time. Although I’d booked the name InspireMeToday.com in 2004, I hadn’t taken the time to build the site yet, as I was working with my daughter on building her career. Jesse and the 800 others like him inspired me to provide them with quality inspiration. I returned home and set things into motion.

Carly presenting scrolls at Ali Asalim

Carly was now married, living in Nashville and following her dream. My son Max, although he was still young, was a junior in college in California. When he turned 18, I felt free to live wherever I wanted to live and do whatever I wanted to do. For the first time in my life, it was about me. I could follow MY dream, so I relocated from California to the mountains of Colorado and founded InspireMeToday.com. We launched on April 6th, 2008.

From the beginning, in the spirit of giving before receiving, it has been our intention to select a good cause each year and provide free inspiration. Because of Jesse’s simple request which was the motivation I needed, we gave each of our 2.5 million active troops a free Premier Membership to our site. Many days I’m motivated by the thought of Jesse being able to come to InspireMeToday.com and download unlimited inspiration to take back to that lonely ditch. Because of so many that make InspireMeToday.com possible, Jesse isn’t alone in his ditch any longer and that makes me smile.

We’re planning to return to Iraq in the spring of 2009 on an inspirational tour and to deliver more “mom hugs”. This time we’re assembling a roster of inspirational leaders to speak with our troops. “Inspiration is the number one thing our troops need now. With the extended tours, being away from families has taken its toll. We would welcome the Inspire Me Today inspirational tour as soon as they can get to Iraq”, said First Sergeant Anthony Page, former commanding officer at the Al Q’aim base in Iraq.

Each day I bounce out of bed full of energy and joy, knowing that our site is making a difference, not only to Jesse and his buddies in Iraq, but also to the single mom in Iowa, the corporate exec in California or the entrepreneur in Florida. Through the inspiration of our Luminaries, people’s thoughts and attitudes are changing. Lives are changing. And from that, we can change the world- one morning, one person at a time.

Baby Come Back Home

Married you four years ago, became a soldier’s wife.
Knew one day, you’d have to go, and I’d miss you in my life.
In seven weeks, our baby’s due; you’re half-a-world away.
Know our country’s needin’ you, but all I have to say is
Baby, come back home, I need you too.
Baby, come back home, Honey, I love you.

Next-door neighbor’s son was there, fightin’ the same war.
We just heard the news today; he won’t be home no more.
Freedom never has come free, there’s a price to pay.
Lord knows, I’m proud of you, but I miss you more each day.
Baby, come back home, I need you too.
Baby, come back home, Honey, I love you.

Until you’re back home, Darlin’, and in my arms to stay,
I pray God watches over you, every minute you’re away.
Baby, come back home, I need you too.
Baby, come back home, Honey, I love you.

Honey, I love you.

You can listen to Carly’s song at:
https://www.inspiremetoday.com/gail/2008/10/inspiremetoday-brings-inspiration-to-iraq/

p.s. Please feel free to send an email to our troops through our friends at www.eMailOurMilitary.com. eMail Our Military is a charitable organization supporting our troops through morale boosting email, cards, letters and care packages. Please send email to: messages@emailourmilitary.com. Thank you!