Roy West was an artist in Cleveland, OH whose fight with Parkinson's disease made him give up his studio and instead paint during classes at the local community college. During a discussion I had with him one day, I told him it pained me to see him in his condition, because there is some Parkinsons in my family, so I know I could end up with the same. He told me "It is true that I cannot paint like I used to, but I have changed my painting style so I can still do what I love. Don't focus on what you cannot do, but focus instead on what you can do." This is not only something I have taken to heart, but that I try to pass on whenever I can. That conversation is a few years away now, so fast-forward to recent days….
The son of one of my client contacts has hemophilia, which prevents him from participating in many of the activities children usually take part in. He's maybe 7, so you have an idea of his age. When I learned that he likes spicy things, I sent some of my homemade jerky home with his dad. That batch was fairly mild, but still had more zing to it than most midwesterners are accustomed to. That was on a Friday. On Monday, his dad told me how excited he was about the jerky, and how he ate all of it up and was disappointed not to have more. So I promised I'd bring more the next time I made a batch, and sent not only jerky but also some dried fatalii pods home with his dad last Friday. This batch of jerky was quite a bit spicier than the first batch, which I warned his dad about.
I got to my client's office today and my contact had one of those proud, sh*t-eating grins on his face when he reported the events of the weekend. His son, Quinn, not only loved the spicier jerky, but also dug right into a dried fatalii pod. Some other boys spent the night on Saturday, and of course, Quinn just had to challenge his friends to trying the jerky and dried fatalii pods. Needless to say, his friends couldn't handle it nearly as well as Quinn could. His dad said he thinks Quinn is hooked now, and he wants to start growing hot peppers for himself. So maybe Quinn will never play football or basketball or many of the other things most kids do, but he CAN be king of hot peppers!
GO QUINN!!!!
The son of one of my client contacts has hemophilia, which prevents him from participating in many of the activities children usually take part in. He's maybe 7, so you have an idea of his age. When I learned that he likes spicy things, I sent some of my homemade jerky home with his dad. That batch was fairly mild, but still had more zing to it than most midwesterners are accustomed to. That was on a Friday. On Monday, his dad told me how excited he was about the jerky, and how he ate all of it up and was disappointed not to have more. So I promised I'd bring more the next time I made a batch, and sent not only jerky but also some dried fatalii pods home with his dad last Friday. This batch of jerky was quite a bit spicier than the first batch, which I warned his dad about.
I got to my client's office today and my contact had one of those proud, sh*t-eating grins on his face when he reported the events of the weekend. His son, Quinn, not only loved the spicier jerky, but also dug right into a dried fatalii pod. Some other boys spent the night on Saturday, and of course, Quinn just had to challenge his friends to trying the jerky and dried fatalii pods. Needless to say, his friends couldn't handle it nearly as well as Quinn could. His dad said he thinks Quinn is hooked now, and he wants to start growing hot peppers for himself. So maybe Quinn will never play football or basketball or many of the other things most kids do, but he CAN be king of hot peppers!
GO QUINN!!!!
