I’m proud of all the people who are proud and happy with all of the people who are happy.
Love on.

Monday. Here we are. The very first day of the week. Named after the moon. Moon Day.
Moonday.

Well, since it’s Moon Day, I think we should probably celebrate! We should ask for the moon. You should ask for the moon. Shoot the moon. Ask for the moon. Do something big. Big as the moon.

Why not?

Why ask for something smaller than what’s on your heart?

Dream the biggest dream you can.

And then get to work.

Love isn’t always fun. Sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes you get dumped. Sometimes the person you love doesn’t love you back. Sometimes you trust your gut and then someone punches you in the stomach. Sometimes you feel like you want to throw up. Sometimes your heart breaks and then it stings and just sits there for a while, like it’s never going to heal. It might stay broken for a while. You might need to be helicoptered in for some complex surgery involving ice cream and tissue and good friends who aren’t doctors.

Just make sure that you let your heart heal. Make sure that you keep watering your inner optimist. Make sure that you get some sunshine. Make sure you notice when you’re back and ready to be happy again. Be okay with the price of the risk of love. And promise me you’ll play the game again. Because I have no doubt that one day you’ll win.

Robyn Rosenberger knows a superhero when she sees one. And so do I. Robyn read about a baby girl, Brenna (a.k.a. Super Brenna), who was born with a rare skin disease that she will have to fight for the rest of her life. So Robyn made her a cape.

Robyn says, “She needs something symbolic so that she, and mainly her parents, know that people like me think that they’re extraordinary.”

Robyn founded TinySuperheroes and is making capes for kids with special needs. She is currently raising funding for her project through Indiegogo. Tomorrow is the last day to contribute on Indiegogo. She will receive any funds you donate even if she doesn’t reach her goal. She also has a one-for-one deal on Zaarly, where you can purchase a cape for a tiny superhero that you know and she will make one for them and also match you up with one tiny superhero who you don’t know yet and give a cape to them on your behalf.

I like the idea that everyone is a superhero. Everyone has super powers, so it makes sense that everyone is a superhero. Some are tiny. Some make capes. Robyn, thanks for inspiring us.

This one’s for you.

Happy Father’s Day! Here are some drawings for Father’s Day, because dads are pretty special. I know. I have one.

This drawing was inspired by Zach Sobiech. Zach had a rare form of cancer and died last month on May 20, 2013, at age 18. I came across this documentary of Zach’s last days of living, which moved me. If you have 22 minutes, it’s worth watching. If you have 22 minutes, you have more than Zach.

Zach, I will do my best to not live like I’m “See you in 5 months,” invincible. Thanks for the inspiration.

Sometimes there are bumps in the road. Literally. And sometimes you’re traveling too fast to deal with those bumps. I was going about 40 mph on a rented scooter in Nicaragua. On the side of the road, there was a sign that said “GRACIAS” (“THANK YOU”), for no apparent reason. I liked that. On the other side of the road, there was a lack of a sign for an upcoming speed bump. All of the speed bumps on this island were preceded by road signs indicating upcoming speed bumps. Except for one. One.

One is all it takes.

Forty miles an hour seems a safe speed to go on a flat, straight road. It IS a safe speed to go on a flat, straight road. But when the road starts to curve and there’s a large, dusty cement bump in the middle of it, then 40 mph is MUCH too fast. It’s MUCH too fast when you’re braking; it’s MUCH too fast when you hit the bump; it’s MUCH too fast too slide; and it’s MUCH MUCH too fast to crash.

Since then, I’ve thought a lot about what I could have done differently. Should I not have braked and just tried to deal with it as I went over it? Should I have braked only with the rear brake to prevent the back wheel from sliding sideways? Should I have paid more attention when I noticed that the scooter’s alignment wasn’t quite right? Or that my helmet was so crappy and loose that it was occasionally being blown back by the wind? The lesson for me is that I need to think MUCH more, in whatever I’m doing, about how things might go terribly wrong, and take some precautions against those terrible things happening. I tend to be very optimistic. This is good in so far as it makes me brave enough to try new things, but it’s bad when it leads me to act without appropriate caution, especially when there’s potential for bodily harm.

We tend to take post-cautions instead of precautions. My friend cut himself badly on his surfboard fins and when he went to the shop to buy duller, safety fins, the guy in the shop said, “You must have cut yourself.” My friend was surprised and asked, “Why do you say that?”, to which the shopkeeper replied:

“Because the only people who buy those fins are people who have cut themselves.”

Okay. So my goal is to be the guy who buys safety fins BEFORE he’s in a situation where his fins would cut him.

How does this lesson apply to my Hearts and All business? Well, what I now instantly notice is that there is very little potential for bodily harm. There’s very little chance that by selling greeting cards, I will die. So that’s good. But let me consider: What might go terribly wrong? Well, I might lose all the money that I put into it. Am I prepared for that? I should be. There’s no guarantee that I’ll sell every card I print. Every investment I make could go sour. I had better remember that.

Since I might lose everything that I put into it, I should try to put in as little as possible. At Hotwire, I was introduced to the idea of launching the minimal viable product (MVP) by a consultant, Marty Cagan. It is the idea I just explained. It seems like common sense when you hear it, but you know what they say about common sense.

So for my cards, I could save money by showing the digital versions of my designs to people first and see if they like them without ever buying card stock and envelopes and protective plastic sleeves and pressing the “Print” button on my computer. And that is exactly what I did when I launched the project through Kickstarter. Success on Kickstarter meant that I was GUARANTEED to have enough money to cover my printing expenses. I could fail for free. Hooray!

Seth Godin has some nice thoughts on failing and risks: “If I fail more than you, I win. Because built into that notion is you get to keep playing. If you get to keep playing that means that you get to keep failing. And sooner or later you will figure it out. The people who lose are the ones who either are afraid to fail and get stuck or they fail so big that they never recover to play again.” (source)

I’ll paraphrase him while I think of bodily harm: “Never bet so much that if you lose, you’ll never be able to play again.”

During my recovery, I gathered information and created a website for people who have broken their jaws, Broken Jaw Recovery. I hope you never have to consult it. I hope you’re smarter than I am, and are a little more careful than you think you need to be. I hope you hear the often silent sound of risks being taken.

I’m back from Nicaragua. I love traveling. It reminds me that besides apples, oranges, and bananas, there are nancite, jocote, and níspero. It reminds me that some things cannot be translated. It reminds me that the @ symbol might be hard to find on a foreign keyboard, that the power might go out, the wifi might be spotty, and the wind might be so loud that you need earplugs to sleep. It reminds me what’s on the menu isn’t always in the kitchen, that water could come in a plastic bag instead of a bottle, and that toilet paper doesn’t always go in the toilet.

It reminds me that taxis could have routes like buses, that buses could be so crowded you don’t have to keep your own balance, and that vanilla milkshakes might come with banana in them, just as a matter of fact. It reminds me that you could see pigs on the beach, a crab next to a bull, and get married on a Monday. It reminds me that you could use your lips to point instead of your index finger. It reminds me that it could be so windy that the salt you shake doesn’t land on your food. It reminds me that you might set out for prime rib and end up with fish tacos.

It reminds me that there are hammocks. It reminds me that I’ve never needed to know what time it is. It reminds me that I could use the Internet for no more than 10 minutes a week for 5 weeks and be perfectly happy.

It reminds me that you can’t go surfing just any old time you want. You have to wait until the time is right. It reminds me that there might be a good reason to put on your pajamas before you go out surfing. It reminds me that there are jellyfish and manta rays in the ocean. It reminds me that I’m always in the ocean, and that the ocean is always boss. It reminds me that raw cashews could be poisonous. It reminds me that I could be shivering while I’m getting sunburned.

It reminds me that everything will be provided for you along the way, except when it isn’t. It reminds me that the fare on the way there might not be the same as the fare on the way back. It reminds me that I might never be here again.

Photo of moon crab courtesy of Lisa Egle. Used with permission. Thanks Lisa!