November 13, 2011: Vroom Vroom...

Heaveno!

... that is the sound of life revving its engines at me.

This week I travel to Atlanta for 4 days for our American Music Therapy Association's National Conference.  I am a regional vice president of the association, so I'll be in lots of meetings, I am presenting a session on determining and articulating your core values, and have the honor of co-facilitating a 200+ person drum circle with a team of 8 led by Mickey Hart, one of the drummers from The Grateful Dead!  THAT is going to be mind-blowing.  I'll tell you why after it's done... Anyway, it'll be great to reconnect with so many colleagues from around the country that I only get to see once or twice a year at best.  I hope to meet a bunch of new colleagues as well.  Meeting new people is one of my favorite things in the world to do!



There is another piece of the trip that I am beyond excited about.  It's kind of a long story, but many of you know that I am a certified NICU Music Therapist, and there has been a revolutionary device in the works for several years now that is going to be a game changer for late term preemies who are having trouble feeding.  Anyhow, I have been patiently waiting for this device to make it to market, because I have always wanted to be a part of bringing it to the west coast NICU world.  Between my sales and marketing background, being a NICU MT, and a NICU parent, God has prepared me to share this new device in a way that very, very, VERY FEW people are equipped to do.  Again, I can't share too much yet, but I get to meet the team that has brought it to market at long last; they're going to have a booth at conference.  I spent an animated and inspired hour on the phone with the product specialist on Friday, who has 20 years of clinical NICU experience, and we completely hit it off.  My biggest challenge is that my plate is so full of opportunities, I literally have been shelving projects left and right that have come up in the past 3 months.  I really want to give this my all, but it's going to mean some tough decisions on how much I can participate in other areas.

One thing that has been tugging at me is the tug of war I'm having over how best to raise money for the U of M.  In one camp, there is the charity model.  For example, we have our next fundraiser on January 11, called Wings of Hope.  It's the luncheon we were gifted by on of CNN's Top 10 Heroes, Chef Bruno Serato from the Anaheim White House.  I imagine that the Hageboecks and friends never imagined that 31 years after their initial benefit concert to honor their daughter, that they would break the million dollar mark and raise over one million dollars in one night.  That's what happened when we were in MN this month.  Wow, that is powerful.

Then there is the philantho-preneur model, where you just go out into industry, make a lot of money providing a lot of value, and funnel a large chunk of it directly to your foundation of choice.  I feel like if I try to do both, neither will get up the critical mass to "pop."  Currently, I am trying to do both; for when I just focused on PUCK over the winter and spring, it was just too intense... albeit I was in a different space of grief, and I can't imagine NOT working on PUCK.  Only God knows the right answer, and she's currently letting me wrestle with myself to find it.  No hand-outs going on over here, despite my asking for one!  LOL.

Oh, God, why must you be so coy? ;-)

Sorry for the open rant.  Sometimes I'm good at keeping to the what's happening stuff, and sometimes I just drift off in my head out loud.  Thanks for listening.  Blogs can be very cathartic!

Last, I had the joy of playing guitar with the praise band at our new church today.  Man, that felt good.  the director has been here for 12 years now, and so it is really easy to just slide right in.  I looked up during the opening song and saw Ali in her pew looking at me, dancing and singing.  Her face was glowing.  That was just about the best moment of the day, aside from when she told me how much she LOVES CHURCH.  That just makes my heart so happy.  Ang and I feel so strongly about raising her inside the church family, and the community, youth program, and music program are so outstanding, we feel like she's in the right place.  We're in the right place.  That's a good feeling.

God night.