Richard Davis is the retiring president and CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.  He’s a banker by trade and I’ll detail his background shortly.  The foundation he leads, as many of you may know, grants hundreds of thousands of life-changing wishes to children battling critical illnesses.  Wishes that give families hope through dark times, maybe the strength to persevere, and hopefully experiences that forever change their lives.  I’d like to share some history about this organization as I’m learning it firsthand myself.

Make-A-Wish traces its inspiration to Christopher James Greicius, an energetic 7-year-old boy battling leukemia who wanted to be a police officer.  In 1980, his Phoenix community came together to make his wish come true.  Little did Chris know that his wish would create a movement that would transform millions of lives.  Frank “Bopsy” Salazar is the first official Make-A-Wish kid.  He was 7 and had leukemia—just like Chris.  So, the Phoenix Fire Department gives Bopsy an experience like Chris’; he becomes a member of the Engine 9 crew.  Since the first wish is also the first Disney wish, the Anaheim Fire Department picks up the baton, taking Bopsy and his family around Southern California.

The A list that supports this organization is overwhelming – Nike, Netflix, Southwest Airlines, Mozilla, Walt Disney, multiple sports franchises, food empires, and financial goliaths.

Davis was a bank teller at age 18 and had a meteoric rise by any account.  He was sporting Executive Vice President titles in major banking institutions 10 years after getting his undergraduate degree in economics from Cal State Fullerton.  He then went on to serve as president of the banking behemoth U.S. Bancorp, from October 2004 to January 2016.  If you have a bit of time, a good thirty minutes start to finish to be honest, you should take in this entire podcast (officially released under Corporate Competitor Podcast).  I sent it to both of my boys for different reasons – the banter between Don Yaeger as podcast host and Richard Davis as personal friend makes for a one-of-a-kind exchange.  Here is the link to the podcast.  The podcast in general leans towards former athletes now in corporate life and when Richard gets asked about his proudest early on achievement, he turns the table.  Even though he was a standout tennis and basketball player in high school, the moment he recalled was as a band rat in the highest of competitions.  If you’re short on time, click the link above and go directly to the 28:30 mark.  When Richard was asked to recall a high school sports moment that made him most proud, he toggled and asked to share a performing arts accomplishment instead.  His retelling of a state band competition is one I’m not going to attempt to retell – take three minutes and listen to him firsthand – I promise it’s worth it especially when the former CEO of the 5^th largest bank in America takes most pride in a high school band competition.  He goes on to say practice makes perfect – a familiar mantra at any level of competition.

The final message from Mr. Make-A-Wish:  Learn and be curious every step of the way.

My last post headlined in Latin; this time I’m going Español.  To be clear, The Day of the Dead is not Halloween.  For starters, today kicks off Día de los Muertos and it is more of a two-day celebration widely embraced in Latin American culture.  It’s not about the spooky but more about remembering lost loved ones.  The first day is believed to allow the spirits of children to visit their families.  The second day is for the adults and elderly to visit.  All Hallows’ Eve [Halloween] roots way, way back to Ireland and Scotland and tends to be more of a secular holiday. 

Last night was the start of some return to previous patterns as we welcomed trick or treaters.  They came in waves and overall attendance was still low compared to peak years.  But it was still nice to see kids and adults making their rounds in silly or scary costumes enjoying a time-honored tradition.  My wife even got a sweet little note from one of her students wishing her a “super duper Happy Halloween.”

By the time I got home our neighborhood streets had swelled with cars transporting the best of our future we have to offer.  I’ve blogged about our newest canine member several times before and we are a dog family; this Halloween was Hope’s first real test encountering multiple visitors.

So, she kind of failed ☹.  At first when the doorbell would ring, she would go berserko and I would grab her collar which led to even more unpleasant gag reflexes because she kept pulling while I was trying to just hang on to her.  Then I put her body harness on, and it was a game changer.  I was amazed at how quickly she could be conditioned to just chill or relax.  And then I had a lightbulb moment.

And granted while my internal lightbulbs are incandescent and not LED, I can still push more than 40 watts!  This weekend my wife and I allowed ourselves to indulge in the superficial about our dog – we paid for the dog DNA report just to prove how royal our four-legged friend was.  But what I learned as I held on to our Hope while my wife passed out candy was how protective she is of our family.  As the kids came to the door and I held her with some restraint, she relaxed and became less tense.

Trick or treating showed me a new dimension in our lab – she becomes super anxious with outsiders but calms quickly with those we invite in.  I think I have a better appreciation of how teachers must feel with outside visitors.  I’m not suggesting they don’t want any, but this Halloween seemed to connect some dots. Our dog Hope has clearly staked out some protective boundaries – why would we think teachers don’t do the same?  And it magnifies as each marking period comes to a close.  Assigning grades is not just an evaluation of student progress but often an internalized measure by teachers on their effectiveness.  It’s a natural response when you’re tasked with growing kids and I’m sure every parent can relate.

I’ve decided to create a new day of observance and in my best attempt at using Google Translate to honor my own roots in Cajun parlance, “Jou Vivan An” will now come to be known as the Day of the Living!  It celebrates teachers each and every day school is in session!  What if and why not?