MY LEGACY

I am celebrating my 95th birthday and am the guest of honor at Central Oregon’s 20th annual Be the Change Celebration, held at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, attended by thousands and thousands and thousands of teens, their parents and their friends who have been positively impacted by the hundreds of Challenge Days that have been held throughout the last 25 years in our Central Oregon schools.

There are hundreds of booths at the Fairgrounds with exhibits and examples of the remarkable inventions and creations that are the result of the careful nurturing of our children over the years that started with a few Challenge Days in a few schools in 2008.

Challenge Day’s Be The Change Movement is now supported by every person and business in our many communities and our example of school and community involvement has spread throughout the state and beyond. The seeds were sown early in 2006 with the discovery, at age 68, that I had a purpose and that was To Awaken Teens to Their Magnificence and Power, Creating Bold New Futures. One of my favorite (and now famous) sayings is: Each of us has a piece of the puzzle. Once you put your own piece in place, a thousand others can then be placed.

In January 2006, I put my piece of the puzzle in place (www.SerendipityWest.org). Shortly thereafter Arlene, my mentor and angel, put her piece in place, and Terri, a mom with a vision, put her piece in place. Together we created the Central Oregon Circle of Change. Look at our handiwork now - thousands of teens and adults have discovered their passions and are putting their own pieces in place. What a marvelous world it is.

Each school year thousands more teens, supported by their communities, attend a remarkable one-day program that “provides youth and their communities with experiential workshops and programs that demonstrate the possibility of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth and full expression” (Challenge Day’s Mission – www.ChallengeDay.org). Be the Change Teams in each of the schools and communities support the teens as they explore the possibilities that exist in their lives as they think outside the box.

Our pilot after-school program, created in 2009 with Pilot Butte Middle School Principal Stephanie Bennett (now U.S. Secretary of Education), has been duplicated at every elementary, middle and high school in Central Oregon. No longer do parents and youngsters wonder how to productively fill the day when school is out. Community involvement has established community centers in each of the towns across Oregon, many of which are at the schools themselves. Volunteers from across the communities and the state share their areas of expertise and the kids have opportunities to explore diverse skill sets in their search for their passion and their own piece of the puzzle.

Serendipity West, my dream home, has become a gathering place for the many extraordinary people that come to share, learn and celebrate what we have created. I receive strength from my talks with “Grandfather Tree” (a grand old Ponderosa Pine, full of wisdom) and as I sit on the Grande Veranda and watch the sun set behind the mountains, I know I have found my serenity and my solitude. I continue to allow the Universe to shower me with miracles every day. I am at peace with myself and with life.

I have been instrumental in impacting thousands (and thousands and thousands) of lives. I made a difference. Life is good.