His name is Jerry!

This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Petit LeMan at Road Atlanta. I attend regularly and over the past few times, and a trip to Daytona, I bring a skeleton with me. He wears a t-shirt that represents my sci-fi series which I am writing and publishing. He gets attention and this weekend received a lot of attention, especially on the grid walk.

Since I started the quest to be a published author and write on a more regular basis my creativity has always been "out there." I originally came up with Billy Bones just as a fun name to have on him. I take him to ComicCon and book signing events that I promote at. Unfortunately, I could not take him to LA for the International Impact Book Awards Gala. A trip for two was going to cost too much.

Over this past weekend camping at Road Atlanta, there was a group next to our site that had a 15-year-old and her little sister. Every time they walked by him, they would say Hi Jerry. The little sister would yell "Oh my god, they killed Jerry!" Over two days the aura of Jerry was growing, and he was receptive and accepting of the name.

From the Wednesday morning camp set up to later Friday afternoon the transition was made. The girls asked me about him, and I told them honestly my reply. "He's, my agent!" They grabbed a piece of paper and a green marker, because it was all they could find, and created a sign. "Hello, my name is Jerry!" It was official, the name had been changed. He is Jerry now, and that will be forever. I cannot in any way change that, because those girls saw what I didn't.

Sometimes we don't see what is right in front of us and it takes the help of complete strangers. This weekend was an important weekend for me for a lot of reasons. I have a number of posts coming regarding it and the projects I have ahead of me. With all of that, this was the first thing I wanted to write about. The day after the name change, I got Jerry set up in a military backpack my neighbor had, and we went to the grid walk. The two of us walked as people clicked pictures and even TV camera men zoomed on me. In my head I was thinking how cool this is. That is the moment that I saw what they saw. Thom and Jerry are on the grid. If you grew up when I did, you see it as well.