My favorite kind of History lesson is one I can see with my eyes, and while Henry Ford left an enormous impact on industry in Michigan, his dear friend, Thomas Edison, made his mark on Massachusetts, New Jersey and Fort Myers, Florida. Our family toured their winter estates and gardens, a museum in their honor, and Edison’s Botanical Lab. 
"Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration."
-Thomas Edison
I have far more respect for the person with a single idea who gets there than for the person with a thousand ideas who does nothing….
-Thomas Edison
“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” – Henry Ford
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
-Henry Ford
The Laboratory…
Edison, Ford and Firestone each pitched in $25,000.00 in 1928 to build the lab for researching a domestic source of rubber. The impact of WWI and their concern that the supply of rubber to our country could be cut off prompted the research. Each of their industries would have been greatly impacted.
While Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb, he was the man who made it better, more affordable, and reproducible . He tested over 3,000 filaments before he was satisfied. He was awarded 1,093 U.S. patents in his lifetime. His purpose for invention was to “transform middle class life.
His greatest accomplishment is said to be his discovery of how to economically generate and distribute light and power -the world we live in is “plugged in,” thanks to Thomas Edison.
His favorite invention; the phonograph.
Edison was a man who (like me) believed in “power naps” – notice the cot in his Laboratory office.
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Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. – Thomas Edison
Our WAY Big Adventure 