Failure:Lab was an incredible event! It appears we raised over $8,000!
It was such a pleasure speaking alongside Terry Johnston and Dr. Brandy Lovelady Mitchell. Each of their stories were incredibly moving. I made sure to tell them how appreciative I was of them sharing their stories on my behalf. So much love for each of them.
Just as I exited the stage I was photographed by Brian Kelly. I'm pretty sure this pose was the first thing my body did. Wasn't planned, wasn't instructed. My body simply went into relief mode. Relieved my talk was over. Relieved the event turned out so great. Relieved that, at the end of it all, the failure I just struggled to share turned out to be my new reality.
It was fantastic to meet so many new people! I had to laugh when a few strangers came up to me and essentially asked, "Well... what happened next?!" I was pleased to report that Lori and I got married, named the baby Marian, and just had our second child, Viola.
All said and done, I owe this event to so many others who gathered around me to make this happen. First, kudos to Jonathan Williams and Jordan O'Neil from Failure:Lab. I still can't believe you two pulled off this event in 9 days! Thank you to Paul Moore and Annie Kibler from Start Garden who offered us their incredible space. Thank you to New Holland Brewing for their liquid courage, and to Paul Lee from Donkey Taqueria who provided the entire audience with a wonderful dinner. Thank you to Jen Pohlman, owner of Sip, for bringing us her amazing juice. Finally, I want to thank Alex, lead singer of The Soil and The Sun, whose music helped us take in and consider the failures we were just offered.
I have officially raised OVER half of the needed money! $22,500! As tomorrow comes, I know the nervousness will settle back in. People keep telling me it's the "final few days" when the majority of the money usually shows up. But I can't sit back and wait on that. Have to keep moving forward.
I know I'm still jumping, but next I have to jump through a few more hoops to pull this off...
If this is all new to you, check out my Kickstarter campaign and donate now, before I have a heart attack!