I received an email a while ago with an unusual invitation from Doug Oppenheim, a client of mine on my recent South Pole expedition: come to England and have dinner with the Duke of Devonshire.

Turns out that Doug and Jeremy Rodgers (another team member/client) were using our South Pole journey to help raise money to build the world's first institute to fight motor neurone disease (Lou Gehrig's disease in our version of the English languuage). Turns out the patron of the appeal is the Duke of Devonshire, and he wanted to host a dinner in honor of our 'little foray' (Doug's very British description of a very difficult trip) to Antarctica. More importantly, he wanted thank all the significant donors who donated through the expedition to the campaign. Jeremy and Doug thought it wouldn't be right if they didn't bring me along.

Nice guys.

So now, here I am in London, waiting on a train to the Peak's District to go to the Duke's house which is one of the most important houses in the country. The dinner will be in the Duke's private dining room  and will be black tie affair.

All arrangements have been made for me. Flight to London, tuxedo, my own room in a castle for tonight. Doug and Jeremy will be giving a presentation and have asked me to say a few word as well. I'm not exactly sure what I'll say, but my life is pretty simple and uninteresting, so it might require a little creative brainstorming on the train ride.

How is this for an opener - "Well back in Minnesota..." A little to provincial maybe. I'll keep working on it.

I am completely out of my league for sure and I feel a bit overwhelmed. But as so often happens with me these days, I simply move forward and hope for the best. I'm not always certain of the outcome of many situations in my life. So, I gather up what little courage I can muster, hold my breath and take one small step forward. Then another. And another.

Its slow progress, but eventually, the path, my small speech, or whatever becomes clear.