What truly matters – lessons learned at Retro Planet!

We are in the home stretch with only 5 days left to lift off. Wasn’t it just January?

If truly feels like we have been going 100 miles a minute for the past few months, preparing, organizing, attending events, learning, growing, responding, writing, answering questions, crying etc. etc. etc. What a whirlwind – and it’s so easy to get caught up in it. I keep falling in to the trap of feeling like we need to thank everyone (did I miss anyone?!?!), we need to put on a ‘show’, Zach needs to be rested so he can ‘perform’ and answer questions during interviews – mostly because it’s how we have been functioning getting ready for his big journey.

Well tonight we realized what truly matters. Jamie from Retro Planet in Barrie (one of Zach’s favourite places) invited us to a fundraiser his team was holding in honour of Zach and Zach Makes Tracks this evening. What a fantastic idea! We spent so much time online sharing the event, making sure people were coming to make it have the most impact it could financially. And then we realized something. The amazing group that attended were Zach’s friends (and new friends – thanks for coming Shannon and Josh!). There was so much laughter and play, and food and yes, the adults took some time out to hang in the bar and have a cold beer. We realized we forgot all the important parts of life again.

Tonight wasn’t just about the money raised (although we are so very grateful!), it was about seeing Zach be the 13 year old goofball that he is. It was about watching Derek get right in to the thick of it in mini-golf and laser tag with the kids (he used to always play with the kids before adults!). It was about surprises from friends (super cool Jake!). It was about actually having more than 5 minutes to sit down with adult friends and talk and laugh and forget about the pressures of planning this epic adventure. I forgot how much Zach needed to just chill and have FUN. I forgot about us needing fun.

Retro Planet, thank you for reminding us how important the most important part is! What truly matters is that Zach gets to be Zach, Derek gets to be Derek and we all get to find our own enjoyment of the moment. It was just the reset I needed to remember why we are doing this in the first place. Not to twist our lives up, but to help unwind others. Tonight was about catching-up and slowing down.