AARP magazine has asked for contributions of how people have experienced forgiveness, so I am going to share one of the most amazing examples of forgiveness in action I have ever been blessed to experience, even though second-hand.

My dear friend, Rosita Perez, one of the most talented and loved professional speakers of all time and a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame, named “Speaker of the Year” by the National Management Association, as well as a Cavett Award Winner, the highest honor the speaking profession bestows, has graciously lived with MS for many years. In the last few years, as she has no longer been able to walk on her own, she has “retired” from the stage. However, she will never retire from the place she has in the hearts of so many in her lifetime role of encourager and teacher of other speakers. Hundreds of us can remember clearly the many paged, typewritten letters of her positive and loving critiques of our video demo tapes and books and how she always sat in the front row when she came to hear us speak, sending affirming thoughts and encouraging nods as we performed our art.

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My pastor told a story this Sunday that really touched my heart. He said he was traveling on Delta from Atlanta to Sarasota, and although usually he is in the very back of the plane, this time his Boarding Pass said “Zone One.” Being one of the first people on the plane, he got to do some wonderful people watching as others were coming on board.

He was in the third row of Coach, when soon a young man in uniform came in, stowed his pack in the overhead bin, and sat in the row ahead of him. Another young lady was seated in that row, and he was able to hear a bit of their conversation. The young man told her that he had just finished a tour in Iraq, was coming home on leave, and then would go back in several weeks.

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I have just been blessed to share in the birth of a new grandchild, Simon George Gawlik, 7 pounds, 10 ounces, in Portland, Oregon, on September 1, 2007. My primary responsibility this week has been to take care of Owen Ray Gawlik, the two year old big brother. I have had lots of fun, but I also am EXHAUSTED! I realize more and more why God chose for us to have our children young. 😉

Owen and I spent many hours together reading stories, going to the park (he likes to swing for sometimes a half hour at a time, always calling “higher, Barb, higher” – my wrists were sore from pushing!), watching his favorite movie, “Toy Story,” at least 10 times, playing cars and skateboard, making masks out of paper bags and scaring each other, learning new songs (he is really good at “The Bear Went Over the Mountain”) and pretending. Very often he would say, “Silly Granna Barbara!” One day he picked up a little stuffed duck I brought him, and said, “Hi, duck. What’s your name?”

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True Leadership
March 9, 2007

Three weeks ago I was privileged to speak to Payless ShoeSource, the largest shoe retailer in the world, in Kansas City. During the time I was with them, I experienced the best example of true servant leadership I have ever encountered!

I was the closing keynote speaker for their annual leadership conference, and right after I finished, there were shuttles scheduled to take the attendees to the airport. At the end of my presentation, each attendee was given a copy of my book which I co-authored with Ken Blanchard, The Simple Truths of Service As Inspired by Johnny the Bagger. Even though they were supposed to get to the shuttles, many of the attendees stayed to have me sign their books.

Because I personalize each book that I sign, the lines take longer than when an author simply signs his or her name and the same short signature to everyone. After about 20 – 30 minutes of signing books, I glanced up to the next person in line and it was Steve, the Senior Vice President of Retail Operations! I could hardly believe that he had waited in line with all the other employees to have me sign his book. Not long after him, I realized the next person in line was Mike, who is Division Senior VP for Retail Operations, Northeast and
International.

This experience told me more about this wonderful company and its leaders than anything else they could have shared with me. The fact that their senior leaders would stand in line just like everyone else was a message about servant leadership that I will never forget. If you have a chance, I highly recommend that you purchase Payless stock. I have!

March 7, 2007
A Reunion with David Hasselhof!

I had a most delightful experience last night! On Sunday I flew from Sarasota to Las Vegas to speak to Allstate Insurance at their Distribution Leaders Forum. (They are a wonderful group of caring, committed folks, and they certainly know how to put on a first class conference. We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel and were treated like royalty every moment of the meeting starting with persons to meet us when we got off the plane to prepaid tips to all the hotel staff! Their gift to each of us was a 7” by 7” digital picture frame to capture the memories of the event. These included a chocolate and wine tasting evening that was a gourmet’s delight! I was blessed to present four 90 minute sessions to their leaders on “Enhancing the Customer Experience,” based on my book with Ken Blanchard, “The Simple Truths of Service.”)

The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane in Las Vegas was a huge sign announcing that David Hasselhof was starring in “The Producers” at the Paris Hotel. Many of you know that I was David’s high school English teacher in 1968 and that summer directed him in his first high school play, “Once Upon a Mattress.” (Looking back, I was only four years older than he was, but of course I felt quite grown up as a new college graduate!)

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Day 15 – January 25: Iguazu Falls, Argentina

We took buses at 6:00 am to the airport in Buenos Aires where we flew to Iguazu Falls, arriving late morning. We were staying at the lovely Sheraton Hotel, the only hotel in the national park, and it had a magnificent view of the falls from our balcony. (We decided it would be a wonderful honeymoon place.) Because our rooms weren’t ready when we got there, we quickly changed and took a walking tour (hike!) to the Upper Falls of the Devil’s Throat, What a change it was from Antarctica – very hot and 100 per cent humidity-but what an amazing sight! We walked a couple of miles, up and down steps and across open steel walkways over the water. In several places we were sprayed with water from the powerful falls.

These falls are famous for being the most falls in one place in the world, Although Niagara Falls is huge, these falls go on in series so you can never see all of them at once. It is like seeing several versions of Niagara Falls, all side by side. We all decided that words and even pictures can never explain or transmit the absolute power and beauty of this spectacle.

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We are finally back in Buenos Aires, so I have email access for just a few hours before leaving for Iguazu Falls. I am going to post the entire two weeks of my journal from the trip beginning with Buenos Aires, then to Ushuaia, and finally on to Antartica. It has been a most amazing journey to experience such a spectacular and untouched part of our world. I hope you enjoy our adventures!

Blessings,
Barbara

ANTARCTICA TRIP – January 10 -28

Day One-January 10 — 11: Leaving the USA and Arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Day Three – January 13:

We slept in and had breakfast about 10:30. After my shopping spree the day before, we ran out of pesos after blindly following the advice of the group about not needing to bring much money because almost everyone took credit cards. We waited in line at an exchange for a long time, only to find out that we needed our passports which, according to our instructions, we were supposed to leave in the safe at the hotel. Our next plan was to try the ATM machines with our credit cards, which did not work, so finally we were able to get 100 pesos each from the hotel to be charged to our room. Our other task for the morning was to try to find somewhere to buy a battery charger for my camera since mine was left plugged into the wall in my living room in Florida!.

After a frustrating few hours, we did find the charger ($70 US), I went back to the exchange with my passport and traveler’s checks, and Nancy headed off to the Design Center and Museum. Now that I was “flush” again, I decided to do a bit more shopping ;-), found one more leather jacket and several fun gifts for the kids and friends. We continue to be amazed at how nice everyone is and what good bargains there are here! (You will be surprised to know that I did have to buy an extra bag today to accommodate all the fun things I purchased..)

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Days 3 – 5 were a blur of activity–lots of sightseeing, shopping, the opening cocktail reception, walking, walking, walking, and last night an amazing Tango show. I will write more about what we have learned about Argentina, one of the loveliest countries I have visited, when we return in 10 days. In the meantime, we are leaving this morning for Ushuia and then will visit Terra del Fuego national park in the morning and board the ship in the afternoon for Antarctica. Other than part of a day and night back here in BA, we will be completely out of touch. Keep us in your prayers for safety, adventure, and wonderful new friends!

P.S. I THINK I made the 33# limit! 😉

Day Two:

After a luxurious and much-needed night of sleep, we had a late start and just barely made it to breakfast before it closed at 11:00. They have a nice buffet with lots of fresh fruit. Got caught up on email and then gathered our “stuff” and headed out on the street. We decided to walk to the museum area but took many detours along the way. We had read about the first place we stopped – their mission was to share cultural artifacts made by natives. I got a couple of pieces of lovely silver and horn jewelry.

As we wandered, we popped into various interesting shops and finally arrived at the museums just about the time we had to go back to the hotel for the opera tonight! We did have a lovely late snack at an outdoor garden area in one of the most exclusive shopping galleries in the city. One interesting thing we noted in the whole “Rodeo Drive” of Buenos Aires was that so few people in the shops spoke English, completely unlike all the small shops on Florida Street where it seemed almost everyone knew our language.

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