Happy May, everyone!
I just had to write and share an amazing experience the boys and I had this past week. We had a young man by the name of Michael Galardi stay with us for two days. He found us through a website community I joined last fall called Couch Surfing (www.couchsurfing.com) and contacted me in early April through that site.
He said he was biking through the lower 48 and was hoping to crash at our house for a few days at the end of April on his way through Washington State. I checked out his website and told him we’d be glad to have him. He arrived on Wednesday and left Friday morning.
This is a truly amazing young man. He’s 26 years old and one of the most positive people I’ve ever met. Prior to this undertaking, he hiked the Appalachian trail 2800 miles from Georgia to Canada. His motto is “Control nothing and nothing controls you” and “If there is always a positive and negative side to any situation, then why would one not focus on the positive?” He spent countless hours visiting with my boys, answering their questions and just being present and respectful of who they were and what they had to say. He spent an hour mesmerizing Eli’s 5th grade class, and just generally won the hearts of everyone he met here in town. And being from the south, he was totally polite and charming and just very easy to have around. We were all three sad to see him ride away on Friday morning but we know we’ll keep in touch. We all agreed this was a truly special experience and one we’ll never forget.
If you have kids (and even if you don’t), you owe it to them (and yourself) to sit down with them and go to http://www.jollygreenicemachine.com. It’s Michael’s website and has not only lots of information about him, but also photos and a blog about his ride so far as well as an educational section for teachers to incorporate his experience into the daily learning in their classrooms. They can actually follow his progress through his blog posts and study the geography, weather, etc. His message to and about young people is really inspiring. Make sure you check out the “about” page on his site. It’s very well written and interesting.
Just wanted share this amazing experience with all of you.
Julie
P.S. Michael has no sponsorship but he does have a donation tab on his website if you’re interested in supporting him.
Make it a great day!
Julie Anne Jones
