During the last leg of my trip, my friend Mark and I drove from Las Vegas to California. We had one interview, David Chiti, in Vegas and then a few in California. My brother flew out to CA to meet up with us and the night he arrived he also planned to meet up with a high school friend. She told him to come to the Roosevelt Hotel for an event that she would be attending. Luckily he knew her when we arrived otherwise we wouldn't have been able to enter this event. It turned out to be a TOMS shoes fashion show and I was handed a post-card-type brochure with the story of TOMS on it (still have it - it's pathetic how much stuff I save). Blake sounded like just the kind of guy I would want to interview for my project...the serendipitous leader I would come across...and it turned out he was the same age as me. I figured that he would relate to my Redefining Thirty quest. After speaking to a few other people who said that I would be able to talk with him after the fashion show ended, my hopes were dashed when my crew needed to leave. The meeting never happened and therefore the potential interview that I hoped for only existed in my head. I still pursed the cause behind TOMS and introduced it to my students this Septemeber. They have been on board and wanting to help in whatever way they can. We would like to have a TOMS shoes decorating party in my classroom this Spring. Something tells me that getting a spot on this Shoe Drop will help me find out more of the story that struck me in August of '06. Looks like the curvy roads ahead will be leading me to South America next month. The roadtrip of life continues...
Check out www.tomsshoes.com
UPDATE 3/7/08 I will sadly not be able to go on this trip to Argentina due to financial constraints. I do hope to experience this amazing opportunity at another time. I only had a chance to mention the good news to my 5th grade students in period 3. The next day when I then told them that I wasn't going to be able to make it, a few of them suggested that they hold a fundraiser so that they could raise money for me to go. It was so cute. I told them that if we do have a fundraiser it will be to buy TOMS shoes so that we know those kids in Argentina are getting their free pair. I watched a few students run over to the globe and see how far away we were from that country. They asked a lot of questions. Even though I won't be able to go this time, getting accepted on the trip was a blessing and so are my students. This trip would have occurred over my Spring Break from school. Although having to turn it down, I was still able to plan another adventure with my friend, Katie. We will be spending that week in California. Looks like I might even be able to visit my friends at the Roadtrip Nation headquarters.... ;)
