#10 of 365~Married to the President

This last November, Nick was voted in as the Neighborhood Association President for the second time in a row!  He did an amazing job and the Leavenworth Neighborhood Association grew in membership and collaboration.  Some of the neighborhoods achievements were raising money and hosting artist to paint a mural on the VFW,  picnics in the park, feeding teachers at our partner school, Membership growth, monthly meetings, flags on Leavenworth project,  Neighbor Night Out party, bocce ball team, kickball team, and raising over $1,500 for our Christmas Cheer project.  As his "first lady,"  I find myself extremely proud of my hubby and ready to get to work for the 2014 year.

The fallowing is Nick's letter to the neighborhood for January.  I thought I would share:

A Letter From The President....

I am embracing the turning of the calendar as a man who embraces his freedom. A time to drop the shackles and put on your running shoes is upon us.

Who cares about the mistakes you made last year? What are the possibilities of this year? I know there are good things ahead of us as a neighborhood and I look forward to seeing them come to fruition.

Now, I know you can bounce back to the old frame of mind and say, “What is the point Nick? In a month we will be back to our old habits and picking up the shackles that we just put down a month ago.” But what if we did not have to think like that? What is it that makes us progress from a moment of hope to a feeling of despair? Notice earlier I mentioned who cares about the mistakes you made last year. Is it our mistakes that haunt us at the end of the year and the fear of making them that ties us down at the beginning of the year?

If this is so, then perhaps our fear of mistakes can be replaced by the opportunity to be creative. One of my favorite kids cartoons from when I was young had a crazy red headed teacher with the motto, “Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.” I hope that this can carry us through this year as a neighborhood.

We have permission to take risks. We have permission to make mistakes. And through the messiness of it all I hope we birth something new and creative for our neighborhood in the 2014 year. So, drop off those worrisome shackles and please join me in making a mess of things at the January meeting.~Nick Mayo