Finding 2020 Perspective

As a small business owner, getting a random call from your landlord (awesome as he may be) is never a call you look forward to answering. Especially 9 months into a pandemic with doors closed...

“Someone shattered your window” he said. The words echoed in my brain as I hastily packed up the picnic in the park I had just laid out for my two little boys.

Have you ever tried to pry hungry children away from swimming ducks!?

“Wild Child is in trouble,” I told them. And much like they have done for us throughout their lives and especially during Covid, they trusted my words and inherently knew daddy needed their help. They recognized the fear in my voice.

I drove the few miles wondering what the damage would be. Did they rob our retail shop, the play equipment, vandalize the hill!? In scary moments like these, my mind just kind of decides to tap dance like Gene Kelly.

We drove over and witnessed the aftermath. A huge spider web crack across the storefront window. Right next to the L in Child. Fitting, I thought.

“Did Spider-Man do that?” My four year old wondered aloud after I mentioned the spiderweb window break to my wife over the phone. 

(Just a friendly reminder, children hear EVERYTHING.)

As I headed back to the parking lot while simultaneously 1. attempting to get the kids back in the car without playing in Wild Child, 2. Researching commercial window replacement, and 3. Reading the fine print of my business insurance, our landlord flagged us down.

“I will take care of the replacement window,” he said.

It stopped me in my tracks. 

Wild Child was going to be ok. More importantly, WE were going to be ok.

Somewhere between Covid-19’s first arrival, to the shutdown, to the riots, to losing my brother, to the reopening, to the shutdown again, and the forest fires, I stopped asking what could go wrong, and started asking “how will I remember this year”. How was I going to change the narrative of this part of our story?

Much like Wild Child’s storefront window, my spirit has cracked over the last 9 months. Everytime we felt we were turning a corner, there was another obstacle--both personally and professionally. Another reason for us to despair. Another reason to utter into the void, “WTF.”

What helped us though was our Community, our Village--YOU.

We often talk about being a part of your village. As parents ourselves, we can never undervalue the importance of the people we choose to team with. Through everything we have experienced this year, we knew two things: everyone was experiencing some sort of hardship, and it was upon us to take care of each other.

When I look back at this year, I’ll remember watching my kids adapt to their new circumstances. My family spending two months away in Arizona making memories to last a lifetime. Finding new ways to find joy, closeness and perseverance. I’ll remember the zoom classes, the Wild Child Show, welcoming people back in-studio (briefly), the countless emails, texts, venmos, In the Wild (Child), and classes in the park. All things I would have never imagined Wild Child cultivating...in year two.

Wild Child has new fans in Germany, Australia, China and around the globe thanks to Youtube. The smiles we saw once we were able to resume classes both indoors and outdoors will be with us forever. It feels good to bring this joy.

Our window will be replaced, and soon there will be no evidence of what happened outside of the knowledge and emotional rollercoaster of those moments of unknown. No one will leave 2020 without a few spider webs, but I hope we will be stronger going forward. We are stronger together, and we are proving that every day we keep going.

Covid won’t deter that, nor will a vandal in the middle of the night. 

Wild Child cannot wait to reshare laughs, childhood, play, and Aloha together again very soon.

Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season and cheers to a fresh perspective in 2021.