Barrhead writer published in Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise for the second time

Inspiration comes where you least expect it.

For example, when Barrhead resident Glenice Wilson missed her flight on her way to the Chicken Soup for the Soul official book launch in Toronto she didn’t realize the incident would be the basis of her next submission to the publication.

Wilson has been included in the, Miracles and More anthology, a collection of 101 stories that prove miracles happen to ordinary people, every day.

A minor miracle is what Wilson says she experienced when she was able to make it to the author book signing event as part of the launch of a special Canada 150 themed Chicken Soup for the Soul edition in which Wilson had two stories published.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is a publishing company, which was founded in 1993 by motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Each of the books follows a similar formula of collecting various short stories on various themes, usually 101 on a specific theme. The stories are of an uplifting nature and the publisher hopes they will inspire the reader in some way.

In order to make sure she was in time for her 7 a.m. flight Wilson and a friend of hers, who was accompanying her, arrived at Edmonton’s International Airport two hours prior. Actually they actually drove to the city the night before just in case any problems were to arise.

“I am one of those types of people who likes to be early and actually my friend and I were talking about how nice it was to be able just to linger and take our time,” she said.

Unfortunately for Wilson, although she arrived at the airport with ample time, the actual process of boarding a domestic flight takes place, relatively close to its departure time, in this case 10 minutes before.

“I learned a big lesson that day and that is to update your licence,” Wilson said.

Because Wilson’s licence had expired she wasn’t allowed to board the plane.

She then called her neighbour, Rita, asking her to get her passport and bring it to the airport. Although Rita was able to get Wilson’s passport she wasn’t able to bring it to the airport.

Undaunted, Wilson asked her neigbour to call her other friends Brad and Joan and arrange for them to bring the passport, which they did. The question then became would they be able to ferry the document to the airport in time for Wilson to catch her next flight at 10 a.m.

For a time Wilson wasn’t sure if even that was an option, but luckily for her she was able to arrange to get a boarding pass from a traveler.

Needless to say, the passport arrived, Wilson made her flight and was able to attend the book signing with moments to spare.

“I actually took my suitcase into the bathroom and had about a minute to change into my Canadian attire. All my friends said I looked great. Maybe I should wait to the last minute and change in the bathroom all the time,” she joked.

In addition to her friend from Alberta, a number of friends from Manitoba and Florida attended the event.

“Actually I wrote the new story for them, to tell them the ordeal I had to go through,” Wilson said, adding it was only later, in September, when she went on to the Chicken Soup for the Soul website, and saw the criteria for the next anthology that she realized it might be a good addition.

However, just like the trip that inspired the story, Wilson didn’t have a lot of time to waste as the publication deadline was quickly approaching. Usually before a story in the series is published it goes through multiple editing sessions, but this time Wilson had very little correspondence with the book’s editor.

“I know it isn’t as dramatic as some of the other miracles in the book, but it was a miracle all the same. When I think of how everything was connected and what had to go right to make it possible, it was a miracle,” she said, adding she is proud to be included in the book. “I really believe in the vision Jack Canfield had when he started the series. He thought it was possible to change the world for the better, one story at a time and I think the books do that. When you read them, it changes you.”