Right As Rain
When travelling internationally, I catch myself daydreaming about the crunch of fall leaves and snowflakes melting on my tongue. I yearn to return home to the sound and smell of spring rain, marking a new season, and with it, the infinite hope of possibility. Rain washes away, welcomes in, and grows everything ready to bloom.
My innovative, visionary Mannheim neighbour Scott Gray has been ready to bloom and grow for some time. But like many businesses through COVID, Scott’s company AVIDRONE Aerospace has been effectively circling this past year in a holding pattern; unable to soar or land or move in any direction, never mind in the direction of a dream. Scott’s dream of flying was born shortly after he started to walk. His parents, opening Flight Craft Model Co., a full-line remote controlled hobby shop in 1986, lined him up on the runway for success. He was going to airports and air shows and gluing tiny wings to planes at the kitchen table at three years old. By the time he had turned five, he was a keen passenger in planes flying out of the Waterloo-Guelph Regional Airport on weekends, driven to understand aviation mechanics, and obsessed with flying remote-controlled helicopters.
By twelve years old, Scott was spending every free moment after school and weekends at the K-W Flying Dutchman Club, learning how to hone his skills alongside enthusiasts sharing the same passion. He began to win small competitions and mastered the accuracy required for aerobatics. By the time he turned fifteen, he found himself the youngest competitor of 100 adults at an international competition in Japan. Japanese sponsors lined up to pay him to fly their products professionally. He saw his face on billboards when he arrived at events, 10-12 a year, 10 of them world championships. Traveling to over 25 countries he placed second, three times.
Simultaneously, he earned his commercial pilot’s license, worked at various companies engineering products, and began designing drones. In 2007, after almost 20 years of competition, he chose to pour his talent and genius solely into AVIDRONE Aerospace, designing aircrafts that can fly long distances, cruise at the same speed of a manned aircraft, and automatically maneuver like a human pilot throughout the flight.
Like most successful entrepreneurs, Scott has paired his passion with purpose, anchoring his deep “why” in a belief that his products can save people’s lives and make them infinitely better. So, three weeks ago when weighing the pros and cons of travelling in a pandemic to attend, The Global Defense Show in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, he felt torn. There was the uncertain risk of exposure on the flight and having to quarantine away from his family upon return. There was the pain of a daily Covid test administered after breakfast and before admission, into the trade show spanning 30 football fields. But there was also the potential of great reward in showcasing his products alongside 900 exhibitors from 59 countries, all seeking strategic partnerships, and perhaps most important, the lightness of being he felt at the thought of moving his company forward in any way.
Like most successful entrepreneurs, Scott has paired his passion with purpose, anchoring his deep “why” in a belief that his products can save people’s lives and make them infinitely better.
After waffling back and forth, he chose to board a 336 seat, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, taking his seat with only nineteen other people, to proudly represent Canada in the Canadian pavilion. Upon landing he knew it was the right decision. The beautiful gardens, architecture, and resort hotel fed his soul and within hours he felt inspired by those around him, the connections he was making, the progress he could measure, all a meaningful reminder of why he started his company and why he continued to work so hard at it.
On the second last day of the show and overcome with gratitude, Scott decided to mark the moment under the stars, poolside, texting home messages of love, breathing deeply, taking it all in. It was midnight and while staring up at the stars he thought he felt a drop of rain. “Not possible”, he thought, “I’m in Abu Dhabi!” More drops and more, until everyone around him scrambled for cover. Smiling to himself, he stayed for a few minutes, enjoying the sound and smell and emotion of the moment.
Getting up slowly he took a step and slipped on the slick granite edge, leading to the first step into the pool. Using his arm to catch himself he remembers falling on his shoulder, the searing pain, limping nearly unconscious into the lobby and answering “yes” to someone who asked if he needed an ambulance. With a broken and dislocated right shoulder, he was tied to a bed in Burjeel Hospital, while three separate doctors unsuccessfully tried to put his shoulder back into its socket. He remembers hearing his own guttural screaming, the MRIs, CT Scans, swiping his credit card with his left hand for each hospital billing and being wheeled into surgery eight hours later to meet with an orthopedic surgeon.
Scott spent the next day in the hospital thinking about the timing of the rain “that never pours” in Abu Dhabi. In pain, he told himself the momentum and the seeds planted for future business growth had been all but washed away. How even though he forced himself to create urgency during COVID, it landed him in a hospital bed unable to move, never mind, forward. How swinging from the highest of all high pendulums to the lowest is difficult to process. He boards a plane home, knowing we are going to talk about his twist of fate.
Of course, we do, and I tell him that life is never happening to us, or even for us, it’s just…simply…happening. We get to decide what it all means. In effect, we create our reality by the narrative we attach to every circumstance. He agrees, and together, we “flip his story”. We focus on how he didn’t hit his head, drown, and die. How it’s very possible his shoulder saved his life.
His shoulder still aches, he’s still in quarantine, but he’s very much alive, and all is not lost. Spring will come, he will heal, I’m certain something big will bloom out of his time spent in Abu Dhabi. I can feel it on its way, right as rain.
Right As Rain
When travelling internationally, I catch myself daydreaming about the crunch of fall leaves and snowflakes melting on my tongue. I yearn to return home to the sound and smell of spring rain, marking a new season, and with it, the infinite hope of possibility. Rain washes away, welcomes in, and grows everything ready to bloom.
My innovative, visionary Mannheim neighbour Scott Gray has been ready to bloom and grow for some time. But like many businesses through COVID, Scott’s company AVIDRONE Aerospace has been effectively circling this past year in a holding pattern; unable to soar or land or move in any direction, never mind in the direction of a dream. Scott’s dream of flying was born shortly after he started to walk. His parents, opening Flight Craft Model Co., a full-line remote controlled hobby shop in 1986, lined him up on the runway for success. He was going to airports and air shows and gluing tiny wings to planes at the kitchen table at three years old. By the time he had turned five, he was a keen passenger in planes flying out of the Waterloo-Guelph Regional Airport on weekends, driven to understand aviation mechanics, and obsessed with flying remote-controlled helicopters.
By twelve years old, Scott was spending every free moment after school and weekends at the K-W Flying Dutchman Club, learning how to hone his skills alongside enthusiasts sharing the same passion. He began to win small competitions and mastered the accuracy required for aerobatics. By the time he turned fifteen, he found himself the youngest competitor of 100 adults at an international competition in Japan. Japanese sponsors lined up to pay him to fly their products professionally. He saw his face on billboards when he arrived at events, 10-12 a year, 10 of them world championships. Traveling to over 25 countries he placed second, three times.
Simultaneously, he earned his commercial pilot’s license, worked at various companies engineering products, and began designing drones. In 2007, after almost 20 years of competition, he chose to pour his talent and genius solely into AVIDRONE Aerospace, designing aircrafts that can fly long distances, cruise at the same speed of a manned aircraft, and automatically maneuver like a human pilot throughout the flight.
Like most successful entrepreneurs, Scott has paired his passion with purpose, anchoring his deep “why” in a belief that his products can save people’s lives and make them infinitely better. So, three weeks ago when weighing the pros and cons of travelling in a pandemic to attend, The Global Defense Show in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, he felt torn. There was the uncertain risk of exposure on the flight and having to quarantine away from his family upon return. There was the pain of a daily Covid test administered after breakfast and before admission, into the trade show spanning 30 football fields. But there was also the potential of great reward in showcasing his products alongside 900 exhibitors from 59 countries, all seeking strategic partnerships, and perhaps most important, the lightness of being he felt at the thought of moving his company forward in any way.
Like most successful entrepreneurs, Scott has paired his passion with purpose, anchoring his deep “why” in a belief that his products can save people’s lives and make them infinitely better.
After waffling back and forth, he chose to board a 336 seat, Boeing 787 Dreamliner, taking his seat with only nineteen other people, to proudly represent Canada in the Canadian pavilion. Upon landing he knew it was the right decision. The beautiful gardens, architecture, and resort hotel fed his soul and within hours he felt inspired by those around him, the connections he was making, the progress he could measure, all a meaningful reminder of why he started his company and why he continued to work so hard at it.
On the second last day of the show and overcome with gratitude, Scott decided to mark the moment under the stars, poolside, texting home messages of love, breathing deeply, taking it all in. It was midnight and while staring up at the stars he thought he felt a drop of rain. “Not possible”, he thought, “I’m in Abu Dhabi!” More drops and more, until everyone around him scrambled for cover. Smiling to himself, he stayed for a few minutes, enjoying the sound and smell and emotion of the moment.
Getting up slowly he took a step and slipped on the slick granite edge, leading to the first step into the pool. Using his arm to catch himself he remembers falling on his shoulder, the searing pain, limping nearly unconscious into the lobby and answering “yes” to someone who asked if he needed an ambulance. With a broken and dislocated right shoulder, he was tied to a bed in Burjeel Hospital, while three separate doctors unsuccessfully tried to put his shoulder back into its socket. He remembers hearing his own guttural screaming, the MRIs, CT Scans, swiping his credit card with his left hand for each hospital billing and being wheeled into surgery eight hours later to meet with an orthopedic surgeon.
Scott spent the next day in the hospital thinking about the timing of the rain “that never pours” in Abu Dhabi. In pain, he told himself the momentum and the seeds planted for future business growth had been all but washed away. How even though he forced himself to create urgency during COVID, it landed him in a hospital bed unable to move, never mind, forward. How swinging from the highest of all high pendulums to the lowest is difficult to process. He boards a plane home, knowing we are going to talk about his twist of fate.
Of course, we do, and I tell him that life is never happening to us, or even for us, it’s just…simply…happening. We get to decide what it all means. In effect, we create our reality by the narrative we attach to every circumstance. He agrees, and together, we “flip his story”. We focus on how he didn’t hit his head, drown, and die. How it’s very possible his shoulder saved his life.
His shoulder still aches, he’s still in quarantine, but he’s very much alive, and all is not lost. Spring will come, he will heal, I’m certain something big will bloom out of his time spent in Abu Dhabi. I can feel it on its way, right as rain.