I work from home. I love this time of year because I can work from my back porch, which is surrounded by about 50 acres of hilly woods. I am with my pets. It is peaceful, pleasant and inspirational for me.

In fact, I have never felt as grateful to be a NatureCoaster™ as I do now. The election is over and people are trying to reach out and remember that America is not built on politics. It is built on cooperatively working together to grow with each person having equal opportunity to earn and learn.

NatureCoaster.com is growing and, as its creator, I am growing too. I will have my first article published in a major newspaper on Veterans Day, the Hernando edition of the Tampa Bay Times! I wrote about a man who was so moved by events in his life that he built a drag racing truck to be a moving memorial to America’s combat veterans.

The Combat Veterans Memorial is a 1960s F100 that Tony German built at his Brooksville home over the last four years. His story is moving. He has a vision that twelve U.S. veterans will learn to drive the truck at Frank Hauley’s Drag Racing School and then Tony will haul the Memorial to the drag strip closest to their home where each vet can race it in front of their friends and family as a tribute to their service. Please pick up a copy of the Times tomorrow and let me know what you think. Then like the Combat Veterans Memorial Truck page on Facebook and tell Tony what you think.

Another NatureCoaster™ that I am proud to call a friend is Pam Marron of New Port Richey. Pam has worked tirelessly to educate and help those who were devastated in the housing crisis that has plagued our nation since 2007. Pam realized that banks and mortgage companies were inadvertently coding short sellers as foreclosures which was keeping them from getting a new mortgage for seven years instead of the stated two.

First she created a web page, Housing Crisis Stories, to allow affected homeowners to tell their stories and spread the news about what was happening. Pam noticed that much of the media coverage painted these people as trying to “get one over on the system,” but she was finding good, hard-working Americans who had lost jobs or had catastrophic problems which severely affected their ability to meet their obligations.

Pam went to work alerting local, regional and national influencers about the issues.  She found solutions and went to Tallahassee and Washington D.C. to fight for us. Today she is on the Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee (HCFAC) to help solve these problems and assist homeowners in staying in the homes that they have worked so hard to keep.

When I reflect on the values that are important to me, as an American and a NatureCoaster, these two people embody them: using one’s experiences and skills to create something bigger than oneself and helping others along the way. With Veterans Day being tomorrow, November 11, I hope you will take the time to honor those who gave some and those who gave all in some small way to help our country heal from the divisive time we have all just endured.

While you’re helping people, could you help me. Please tell a friend about NatureCoaster.com. Forward our posts and emails. Share our ideals. Like our Facebook page.