Downtime
We have had 5 days of go, go, go and we decided to get take some downtime. We were told by another family that had traveled for a year that you can only do so much site seeing and that you needed time to just hang out. So, yesterday we rested all day in the apartment, went to the gym and had a very relaxing day. Karley met an old college friend, who happens to be living in Melbourne for a few months for work, for dinner so it was just the 4 of us in the evening. We had dinner with Kay, Josh and his wife Emelia. We went to Josh’s favorite pizza place for dinner and just down the street there was home made ice cream which was pretty delicious. It was a really nice night. As I have said, I’m more interested in meeting people than seeing the sites, so last night was really great for me.
The more I get to know Josh Wood the more amazing his story becomes. At the age of 18 Josh was planning to become a professional snow boarder and tried to jump across a road on his snow board. Well, he fell a few feet short and landed on the back of his neck. He shattered his spine and was in the hospital for a few months before starting his rehab. The doctors told him that he would never do anything active again, that he could best hope to move a wheel chair around with his chin. Well, Josh has proven everyone wrong, so much so that others with spinal cord injuries don’t even consider Josh a quadriplegic. In the end it doesn’t matter what other people think. Here is a young man who could have given up, could have packed it in, but he didn’t. His positive attitude is amazing and he needs to let people know that the mind is so much more powerful than we give it credit for.
We will meet with Josh again before we leave Melbourne and then we will connect at one of his speeches in Sydney in a couple of weeks. I know a number of people that can help get Josh’s story told, so it’s time to put that network to work.
Before dinner Ilise and I went for a walk to Hosier Lane to see the final version of the Fruit Bat graffiti art that we have seen evolve over the past few days. The artists final piece was amazing but you can only really see it from the 3rd or 4th floor of the parking garage right next door. All of the street art around is pretty amazing, with individuals taking a few hours out of their day to create something that is uniquely theirs. We also saw a young bride taking pictures on Hosier Lane, something that seems to be a normal occurrence there.
Today it’s a bit rainy so we have another quiet day, something that I’m quite enjoying 🙂 I have a meeting later today with the local SVP (Social Venture Partner’s) chapter. SVP was started by a number of ex-Microsoft execs that were donating money to non-profits and realized that the money was being wasted. So, they decided to set up an organization that not only gave money, but lent their business expertise as well. Today there are close to 40 chapters of SVP globally, with Seattle, Silicon Valley and San Diego as the top three. I have been a partner at SVP for the past 2 years in San Diego and look forward to meeting some others around the globe that are interested in making a difference.
On Tuesday we will visit two different Rotary Clubs, one for breakfast right near the apartment we are staying in, and the other on Tuesday night with Wendy’s, Kay’s sister, Rotary Club in Federation Square. I am looking forward to attending both and will have an opportunity to speak to both clubs, the one at night will be a much longer talk. I am really interested in learning more about how the Success Redefined message resonates with individuals around the globe.
Larry Kesslin 