(70th Entry) The last several weeks…

I hate it when I go to long without writing. Getting back into the flow seems so difficult.

I just returned from New York! As always… I love New York. There’s just a magic to it.

I attended the New York International Gift Fair where my Mom and I tried to sell our products. Times are tough in the U.S. Buyers are nervous. No one really knows what to expect.

We seem to be a company always in transition… Our old mainstay product was hand-hammered copper. The problem is that copper has become so expensive that it’s prohibitive to sell. Only a select few understand and appreciate it enough to pay the kind of prices that we must charge. Of course the Santa Rosa Candles have been a product… a great product for many years. My Mom started the company with a glass line and that’s where we’re back to today… Glass… Especially the carved glass that is done in our new factory!

I shared with people “our story.” How we’re trying to hire disabled individuals to work, to learn to carve glass. People really responded. I had made a little hand-out that had a few pictures and a few lines about what we’re doing… At the bottom it said… “Be a part of The Story”



As I said, we're a company in transition. We arrived in New York and created the booth with what items we had in our mini-warehouse and some items lent to us by our neighbors who happen to be good friend as well. My Mom hadn’t gone to market in six years. She had to admit that things had changed drastically in that time. We’re located on Pier 94 and since she had been the whole make-up of the pier’s had changed. Not to mention the neighborhood. Pier 94 is located on 52nd and the West Side Highway. This neighborhood has changed dramatically in the last few years. Once what was a rough area has turned into a trendy neighborhood.


It’s good to be back home! There’s lots to do to ensure that the dream survives.

UPDATE...

I've been in New York for the past 12 days. I've just returned home so I'll get back to the writing.

As always there's lots to say!

So hopefully by Sunday I'll start having new entries.

Stay tuned!

(69th Entry) My talk in Irapuato

Last May I went on a meditation retreat. It was a great needed weekend of peace and quiet. During that weekend I met a Doctor by the name of Eugenio. He’s a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for CRIT, Centro de Rehabilitacion Infantil Teleton or just Teleton. Telethon is a clinic for disabled children in Mexico. They now have 11 clinics and aim to have one in every State. At that retreat he casually asked if I would like to come to CRIT and give a talk. I of course answered yes, thinking that the likelihood of it actually materializing would be minimal. Well shortly after that weekend I began hearing from both Eugenio and the Human Resource director of Teleton in Irapauto, Guanajato.

To make a long story a little shorter on Thursday, July 31st, I’m in a car with my two interpreters heading towards Irapauto. Most people only need one interpreter, but I always tend to do things with a little more fanfare… Makari and Nataraj are good friends of mine. Nataraj is the person who has helped with all of the videos and Makari was my Spanish tutor until life just got to hectic. Makari who is from Mexico City understands 90% of everything I say so therefore Nataraj, a Canadian by birth, fills in the 10% gap. Now you understand why I had two translators.

Telethon arranged for us to stay in a hotel for the night. Our friend Eugenio, Dr. Eugenio de Pavia M., picks us up for dinner. We go to the old Sanborn’s in downtown Irapauto and talk for a couple hours. It’s at that time that I discovered that my talk was to be in front of 125 people. I had known that the talk was to take place at 7:00 a.m. which is why I had asked Nataraj to bring a coffee maker. I didn’t realize that I was speaking in front of 125, doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists… in other words the entire staff of the clinic.

I had brought with me some notes from previous talks. When I returned from dinner I spent a couple hours reviewing the notes. I created my outline… approximately 18 words on a single page of paper… The title of my talk was “HOW TO LIVE WITH, FEEL COMFORTABLE AND BE PRODUCTIVE WITH A DISABILITY”

We arrived at the clinic at 7:00 a.m. where we proceeded to the auditorium. I was introduced and began my talk. It was an incredible experience. I had never given a talk where I had to have it translated. It was an amazing experience. I learned so much. By having it translated I was forced to slow down, say only a couple of sentences at a time. By doing this it forced me to collect my thoughts, think about where I was, think about how it connected to what I had said and where I wanted to go. I realized that I had included just as much or more substance than if I had just been speaking for an hour and ten minutes with no translation. I realized that I was focusing on the audience, watching there reactions. I wasn’t just in my head, talking. There were several times that I paused, looked at my outline and regained my cadence.

It was an incredible experience for me and I hope for those listening as well.

After the talk, several of us had breakfast together at the little café on site. Afterwards two individuals, Angel Zavaleta (HR dirctor) and Dr. Guadalupe Reyes Mail (Chief of Staff) proceeded to give Makari, Nataraj and myself a tour of the clinic. I think we spent two hours touring the clinic. I kept thinking back to my days as a young child going to the old Scottish Rites Hospital in Dallas. What a difference time has made in the ways we deal with the issue of disability.

This clinic was incredible! Not just in the facilities, but also in the philosophy. First, architecturally the building and grounds were open, airy and colorful. Second, the facilities were a good as I had ever seen. State of the art equipment was everywhere. Third, the philosophy was one of treating not only the whole person… body, mind and spirit; but also the whole family. I could go on and on. It was just a moving experience for me… for the three of us from start to finish.

To have a dream means to have desire. To have desire means to want to accomplish something. To want to accomplish something means to have the confidence, the self esteem and drive necessary to make it happen. There’s a line between confidence and arrogance. In my Mission Statement I make clear what my goals are… I started the blog back in November of 2008. While I haven’t accomplished all of my goals, I’ve made tremendous strides. Dreams sometimes seem to be bigger than reality… sometimes they change over time and sometimes they come true or sometimes you just give up! Sometimes you just keep going when all logic says… it’s impossible!

We have 8 out of 24 employees who are disabled. I gave a talk that lived up to my dreams. Not that it was perfect… But it was! I have a few video clips… the beginning of another dream. What more can I ask in eight months?

Sometimes I question my dreams. Am I really capable of doing…? Do I really have what it takes to do all that I say…? At the risk of sounding arrogant… I think I do!

(68th Entry) A week to remember and a little to forget…

This week started out with the government of the state of Guanajato inaugurating our work of hiring disabled individuals. Read my sister-in-laws, Debra’s, blog entry on this.

Debra's Blog Entry

She does a great job of telling the story.

For me, it was an amazing event. It’s been a dream in the making for over twenty five years. I honestly didn’t think that it would be this monumental of an event for me. But it was. As you read my blog these past eight months we’ve have had our moments… good and bad, highs and lows. The blog can only reveal a small part of the struggles that have actually been taking place in my life. Great things have happened! Yet the struggles continue and give me reason for concern.

Having two factories open in the course of eight months has been very taxing on all of us trying to survive day to day. My parents came for the month of July to help relieve Mary (our office manager) and I of some of the burden. Their help and time was invaluable.

Also this week we had a major catastrophe. No one was hurt… that’s the important thing. A few material items were ruined, but they can be replaced. It’s just part of running a business. Sometimes you have good luck, sometimes not so good.

I always say… “If it was easy, everyone would do it!”

One of the reasons that the inauguration was so powerful for me is not just because it was a dream come true, but a moment when I realized just how far I’ve come, we’ve come. I’m responsible for 24 individuals… making sure they’re paid every week. Some of them could easily get other jobs, but what about the one’s that can’t? We’ve started something that is “catching on”, getting noticed. Bad economy or not… This has to be successful!

In entry 65, I talked about the individuals that came a few weeks ago to interview for jobs. Not only were they inspiring to us, they showed us just how grateful they were to be given the opportunity to work. It was touching, moving. They are all working now for us.

Somewhere in a previous blog or two, I talked about my own struggle to get my first corporate position. It takes a dream… a commitment… help… to get things done.

The week started with an amazing Monday and finished with an amazing Friday… with just one little lousy day in-between.

In my next entry, I’ll talk about Friday… My talk at CRIT, Teleton, located in Irapuato, Guanajato, Mexico. Another very moving day for me…