Chills and Tears

 Say hello to my little buddy Zoran. Zoran lives at Casa Hogar a loving orphanage in Cabo San Lucas Mexico. I met Zoran for the first time last January when I came to scout out a steep area at the entrance to the orphanage to install beautiful pondless waterfalls.

Zoran made an instant impression on all of us with his feisty attitude and the fact that he was wheelchair bound. Zoran was born lacking the use of his legs but that was the only thing he was born lacking. During construction all of the kids were all over us and our fun “toys” otherwise known as our construction equipment. The only kids having as much fun as they were were all of us who felt so amazingly blessed to be applying our skills as water feature artists for such worthy recipients.

Zoran, despite being in a wheelchair, threw himself into the middle of the action right along the other boys literally ditching his wheelchair dozens of times while physically dragging himself up and down the hill! Again, his indomitable spirit made an impression on us all.

If that was the end of the story I might have just kept the memory of Zoran filed away to myself in those “special life events categories” of my brain. But it gets better, way better.

When we returned to Casa Hogar and walked through the doors for the first time since we turned on their new waterfalls, the first person to greet us was Zoran. His wheelchair was nowhere to be seen and he was walking!

Last year another couple who too fell in love with Zoran flew him from Casa Hogar to their home and supported him as he had the final spinal surgery that miraculously gave him the ability to walk.

Chills and tears!

Today Zoran is still up for adoption. As an American not permanently living in Mexico it is not possible to adopt Zoran or any of his brothers. What is possible though is to support them all financially. Today I’m taking 40 people to swim with whale sharks in La Paz. Its 140 bucks a head and is certain to produce memories all of us can file away in our “special life events category” in our minds. That same 140 bucks would also support a child at Casa Hoger for a month!

There’s nothing wrong with living life to the fullest and celebrating success by taking epic vacations or doing amazing things. But what makes life worth doing is doing it with and especially for others.

I’ve swam with whale sharks twice before. But today I get to take 39 excitedly scared rough and tumble contractors to do so for the first time.

Chills…and tears of laughter!

Zoran’s smile is big, yours will be bigger I promise when you do things for others.