I’ll probably never see them again. Don’t even know their last names.

But two days ago, they saved my life. And I’m not even exaggerating…

Before I get to that part of the story, I must first share that the last two weeks have, for the most part, been bliss.

A few things I have not done:
(Seriously, not at all.)

• Dial – or even touch – a phone.
• Use the internet.
• Turn on a computer.
• Send a text message.
• Tweet.
• Blog.
• Use Facebook.
• Watch television.
• Interact with a screen.
• Taken a photo, or a video.
• Stay up late to finish the work – or get up early to start it.
• Eat hurriedly to get back to a task.
• Make a to-do list.

A few things I have done.

• Swim in the ocean and in a freshwater spring that’s 72 degrees all year long.
• Hike. Alot. Through swamps and mangroves and hardwood forests.
• Eat mangos freshly-picked from a tree on a hidden trail – and wild blackberries too.
• Cook meals slowly over an outdoor fire.
• Have a romantic dinner on the water under a canopy during a thunderstorm at a delectable indian restaurant where we were the only customers.
• Get my skin kissed by the sun. Over & over & over again.
• Chase raccoons and turtles.
• Run from snakes and big hairy spiders.
• Fall asleep exhausted and salt-covered.
• Read 2 books. Purely for pleasure. (loved The Omnivore’s Dilemma & didn’t love Little Bee)
• Run with my dog in the grass and on the beach.
• Lose 5 more pounds. To add to the 11 I lost last month.
• Toast marshmallows.
• Play with kids – and people – I love more than anyone in the whole wide world.

In short, I was thoroughly human. And it has made all the difference.
I feel like a whole new girl.

Of course, as I mentioned, there was the one near-death experience.

I left one activity off the list above:

We canoed for more than 7 hours in alligator-infested waters.
Of course, I’m not really sure you can call it “canoeing” when you:

• Tip the boat 7 times in 7 hours.
• Swim as often as you float. (Did I mention there were ALLIGATORS in the water? Like, ones that have eaten people in this very creek.)
• Cut your hand so badly that you’re rendered nearly incapable of rowing.
• Use your hands more than your oars to steer and grapple with low hanging trees that threaten to decapitate you if you lose focus for even a second.
• Sink into over 4 feet of mud as you claw your way onto an uninviting shore where snakes and who-knows-what-else await.
• Once toppled, feel your feet tangled in tree roots under water as you scramble to get a life vest to your boyfriend who’s not a great swimmer and whose face, barely surfacing above the water, wears a look of sheer terror.
• Stand on the muddy banks looking for a nonexistent hiking path to safety or motorized rescue.
• Watch powerlessly as a torrential downpour and thunderstorm open up overhead.
• Hang perched in a tree crying & blowing a useless emergency whistle while your boyfriend, whom you can no longer see, holds your flipped canoe against a current whose speed is being multiplied by the power of the storm.
• Hold on for dear life to each passing branch and threaten not to go on as you sob and say “i just can’t do it.”
• Lose glasses, a flip camera, hat, sunglasses, and your dignity in a creek that we’d later learn is the “most challenging canoe run in Florida”. Nice.
• End up floating somehow backward down the creek as more low-hanging and fallen trees greet you at every zig and zag.
• Scream like a little girl while you watch alligators pass under the boat & swat away spiders that are bigger than your hand.
• Get back in the boat 7 times in 7 hours, each time more terrified that the next time you could get tangled in the jaws of a hungry reptile or roots that threaten to drown you.
• Get rescued by gracious kayakers named Tanya & Larry who shepherded you slowly down the rest of the course as you cry in gratitude and a fear that won’t relent until you reach dry land.

(Maybe this description from another unsuspecting canoeist on this run will fill in any missing details.)

Larry would right our boat twice after kayaking up and downstream searching for oars we lost in the upturns.
Somehow, through it all, he maintained his sense of humour, saying the last time,
“You know, the open part’s supposed to be on top, right?”

Tanya kayaked calmly, encouragingly behind us whistling to Larry when we needed his help to surmount an obstacle.

Larry and Tanya had once been rescued by helicopter as they crossed a raging river in Northern Georgia.

For me, the whole experience was just a reminder that people rarely get where they’re going all by themselves. (Not even me.)
Especially when they’re going somewhere they’ve never been.

The stories of rugged individualism that surround our entrepreneurs, heros, athletes, leaders – and even ourselves- are only myths and legends. The self-made man is a fable. Behind each one is an unseen, unheard, rarely celebrated legion of friends, families, employees, supporters, fans, educators, coaches & more – who’ve invested in dreams not their own to make them possible.

While I was out, several folks pitched in to help. Many people had my back – Betsy, Tori, you know who you are.

It’s good to be reminded that you’re not in this alone.

When you need it most, and when you least expect it, there’s a Tanya, Larry or maybe even a helicopter waiting just past the next bend to carry you home. As long as you keep getting back in the boat, stay on the trail, and keep rowing.

Thanks, to all of you who have been my Larry & Tanya over the past two weeks – and over the last three years.

My gratitude is deep and abiding.

And I’m back.

Off to Africa again on Friday…

Posted: July 6th, 2010 under The Foundry.
Comments: 3

i sat down today to write everything i haven’t written since the last time i wrote.

it won’t come.

because what’s inside me right now is the deep enveloping knowledge that i have nothing left to give right now.

i’m tired.

i’ve been putting it off for a while, thinking (and hoping) this feeling would soon pass.

it hasn’t.

i’m weary to my bones.

i’ve no will to say or do the right thing.
or even to figure out what that is.

somewhere between our last fundraiser and our upcoming trip to Africa, i’ve lost the pervasive sense of joy that is normally so inherent for me in this work.

not that i always expect it to be joyful.
sometimes, i realize, it’s just plain heartbreaking and hard.
but it’s worth it all the same.
just as it is now.
and if i had even an ounce left, i’d gladly pour it.

but right now, i need to be truthful
and open
and let myself be fully human.
radically imperfect.
imperfectly radical.

as much as epic change is an organization (whatever that means),
i am just a girl.

a girl with a heart full of hope
that a different world is possible.

a world that honors & celebrates the deep, abiding, mystical, soulful, exquisitely imperfect humanity in each of us.
a world that knows each of us holds the infinite capacity to live the greatest dreams our mushy, breakable hearts hold.
a world that understands that our greatest potential can only be realized when we see, hear and reveal the possibilities in one another.

we are the keys to unlock one another’s greatest aspirations.
we can lock one another out, or let one another in.

to honor the humanity & possibilities in one another, though,
we must always honor the humanity & possibilities in ourselves.

so tomorrow, as i leave on vacation for two weeks, or as long as the little girl inside me needs to play,
i will relish my own humanity.
the broken bits that make it nearly impossible for me to work right now.

and the magical bits that will return me right here, stronger, happier, more alive than ever
and probably sooner than i’d ever have imagined.

in the meantime, i wholeheartedly recommend

• learning from beth kanter’s new book: http://www.bethkanter.org/launch/
• playing in jen lemen’s dream lab: http://www.mondobeyondo.org/dreamlab
• listening to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPz3YaIJkjQ
• & letting yourself off the hook.

you know the way you always recall just what you’d forgotten when you stop trying so hard to remember?
my guess is, if we let one another off the hook, we’ll create just enough space for all our ideas and possibilities to come true.

see you soon.

xo,
stacey

Posted: June 21st, 2010 under The Foundry.
Comments: 4

Some of the children heard what we were up to and wanted to share their Mother’s Day greetings. Though English is a second language for these sixth-graders, they share so clearly how their moms & Mama Lucy have impacted their lives, and why we all hope you’ll choose To Mama With Love as your Mother’s Day gift.

		My name is Gideon Gidori. In Tanzania,I am proud of my mother I love my mother because she has done a lot to me and my life. She has born me Raised me and took me to school. She is a very nice person and I couldnt reach here where I am without her.When I joined school I met a mother. And she was mama Lucy. I love mama Lucy. She is a very kind person. She also took care of me like my own mother. In I appriciate all that she has done for me. I have learnt a lot from Mama Lucy and my mother because they loved me very much and second they contributed a lot to my education untill I am a big boy in class six. I thank mama Lucy she has done a lot to me and I wish them a happy mothers day!!!”
		“my name is glory. i am 12 yrs old. i like my school that why i decided to join it.i was so pleased with my fellow pupils;teachers and other staff. i loved the school director MAMA LUCY because of her great care. at that times she handled us as your really children. i really appriciate for that. i can so speak that she is a caring mother. she did great things for me.i really wonder o mercy heart she has!! she helped poor peoples providing education e.t.c by all that much she decided to up the computer class. i thank her very much. she is an owesame mum and she is hardworking. I AM WISHING HER A HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY.”
		My name is Catherine George. I am 12 years old. I love my mother very much because,she love’s me too and she took care of me since when i was young till now and she took me to school to get something that i never knew but now i know something i thank her very much. And Madam is a good mother to us I love her so much. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY.”
		“My name is Phinehas Peter. I am in class six. I love mama Lucy very much because she loves us too.We love her because she has increased many teachers to teach us. She has brought many computers to our school and she have done very many good things to our school thats why I love her. Even though I have my own mum but she is more than another mom to me in education. I wish her a happy mothers day.”

And, from the parent of a younger child, Mr. Patrokil Kitaly.
“Thanks so much Mamas Lucy Kampton and Stacey! You are always come up with good ideas to change the world and make our kids to have good education.Am proud the way both you works.With this…… .Happy mother’s Day!!!!!”

Mama Lucy has also been tweeting from Tanzania to participate in the celebration. I think she’s articulated clearly how your mom will feel when you create her a heartspace and add your love for her at To Mama With Love.

Posted: May 7th, 2010 under The Foundry.
Comments: 1