In March of 2009, Mattie went to the Circus. Georgetown Hospital gave Mattie special box seat tickets to see the greatest show on earth! We never took Mattie to the circus before, so the whole experience was his first and unfortunately his last. As you can see, Mattie acquired several items while there and both the sword and the whirling elephant still sit on his white memory cabinet in his bedroom today. It was a special treat to see Mattie's reaction to that event, and his best buddy (who also was battling cancer), Brandon, was at the circus that day too. Mattie was happy to meet up with him at the Verizon Center, because Brandon helped Mattie feel like a normal kid.
Quote of the day: If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ~ John Quincy Adams
At this time of year, sheer chaos starts to unfold with event planning for the Foundation Walk. I think it is ironic when people tell me each year that the "walk must run itself by now!" That gets me every time I hear it! If only people knew the effort that goes into planning such an event! The Walk doesn't run itself and as it grows, it gets more complex. Recently I have had people tell me I need to delegate more and not take on so much. That isn't my strong suit on a good day, since I do not like managing people. I love being collaborative and working as a team, but if I assess I have to manage a person, I rather just do the job myself. But managing the Foundation is a very personal job. Because we are growing and young, anything we do is a direct reflection on us. Therefore, in my opinion it has to be done right or to the best of our ability.
For me to relinquish control means I must first trust you. There are only a handful of people I give up control to on the Foundation Walk. I can do this with them, because we have worked together for five years now and I know that their role is just as important to them as it is to me. I consider myself honored to have these individuals among us! Trust takes time, experience, and most importantly an understanding for the values of Mattie Miracle, and how we do things. Coming into our fold without that understanding wont get you far with me or any of my core volunteers.
One of these core individuals is my raffle chair, Carolyn. Some of my faithful readers and followers may not know Carolyn. Carolyn and I met when Mattie and her daughter were in preschool together! Carolyn is there for me from the Winter until the Walk is over. She tracks our progress, keeps spreadsheets on what is popular, what sells, who we solicit, how we solicit, how we sell tickets, and of course her sense of humor picks me up on grey and down days. Last week out of the blue she emailed me about how I inspire her. I certainly wasn't expecting such a message. She wanted me to know that she feels very territorial about her role and in essence what she was saying was that she wants the raffle to be successful because she believes in our cause and what Mattie Miracle does. Carolyn needs no outside prompts, she needs no oversights, and she needs no external motivations. It comes from within. As I told Carolyn, I saved her message to me, because it means a great deal to me.
I related to what Carolyn was telling me about her raffle chair position, because that is how I feel about my walk chair position. I would love to delegate 75% of what I do, but if I assess that I can't, I won't. It is my hope that in time this will change, but for now it always perplexes me when someone thinks they know how to run something better than I do when they are not familiar with the background of the operations or the complexities behind it. If you want to invest the time with me to understand how the Walk works, then believe me, I am happy to have you strategize next steps with me!
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