Life has brought me both great sorrows and tremendous joys. How does one make sense out of the senseless and navigate through the seeming randomness of life? By Living, Laughing, and Loving!

My spiritual journey began with the writings of Joesph Campbell and his books, especially The Power of Myth, and his subsequent series of PBS interviews with Bill Moyers. They describe his beliefs and views of the universal commonality of world religions.

Wayne Dyer’s writings and talks were also influential in forming my current view of the Universe and our place in it.

I began to realize that we alone control whether we live life in a positive, joyful, grateful and loving manner. When we live that way, we begin to shine, and–believe it or not–others notice. My partner, Wispy, has made me shine brighter than ever, because she sees the light and shines too. Together we shine brighter than ever! People come up to us and somehow feel the light, and miraculously we can make them glow too! It’s an amazing phenomenon. We are blessed to have each other, we love life, live it to its fullest, and make each other laugh every day. Does that remind you of Syd!

That brings me to how I know Syd. I was there and was a small part of his birth. My nephew, Jeff Young, was living with me in Boulder, Colorado when he began working with Ellen on the creation of Syd. He asked me numerous questions about how, where, and who to contact to actually make Syd a reality. I assisted where I could and Syd began to come to life. I was intrigued by Ellen’s concept and realized Syd represented some of my core thoughts and beliefs.

Wispy has three Little Syds by her bedside: silver, white and periwinkle. I also have three: purple, silver, and indigo. We also have a large white Syd in our apartment in NYC. So we know Syd very well. He has always traveled with us between our homes and on vacations.

Last year, we planned a trip to go around the world on The Viking Sun Inaugural World Cruise, a 144-day journey to 49 different countries and 65 ports of call. Obviously, we would bring our Syds with us, but thought it might be cool to share him in countries along the way. Ellen thought it was a great idea and provided us with 12 Syds to find homes for along the way. We wanted to share his spirit and light around the world. Syd became so popular that every person who we took a picture of Syd with smiled so brightly that we knew he belonged with them. We knew we didn’t have nearly enough Syds to adequately spread his message as far and wide as possible. Ellen to the rescue!! She first tried sending 40 additional Syds to us in Los Angeles but they missed our ship. She then sent 40 more Syds to us which were awaiting us when we arrived in Tahiti. Obviously, Syd enjoys traveling!

At each stop, we look for people and/or places that feel right for Syd. It’s been fun for us to share him and what he stands for along the way so far. We have over three months left and Miles to go before Syd sleeps!

We are Living, Laughing, and Loving every day on our amazing journey, a dream of a lifetime. Syd is right there with us, living and sharing the dream with others all along the way.

Cheers!
Miles and Wispy

Miles Hamm
Aboard The Viking Sun
Cruising the South Pacific
January 20, 2018