An anniversary ahead: Sept 21, 2017 – I sent a letter

Hi Friends!

Making the most of a delightfully unstructured weekend to do a bit of writing, and it dawned on me at some point this week that we might suddenly be running up on the anniversary of a few key milestones that happened last year in September.

For folks with any interest in the timeline of our journey, I think I tried to capture the 18 month “blow by blow” in an earlier post (link here), but for the sake of this specific milestone- the critical steps in our journey to this new life (aka the hard ones) all pretty much happened in September and October last year. From telling my dear friend, boss and trench-mate that we were putting the house on the market (a day I’ll never forget…) to watching the for sale sign go up in front of 301 S. Henry. We had a lot of big days in September and October 2017, but it’s fun to look back and see the evidence of one of those days – the day I sent my letter of introduction to John Roche, CEO of the TRF.

It all started with some heartfelt words on a blank page.

For all the heartache, hand-wringing and projecting we did to get ourselves extracted from our old life, it’s kind of funny that both Bobby and I started down the path to here with a letter to one individual person who had only the foggiest of notions who we were… and for both of us, those single letters of introduction resulted in our current jobs. We basically took aim at the bullseye of two seemingly impossibly unavailable and insanely specific targets, launched our arrows… and hoped, prayed & dreamed – and the universe totally did the rest.

On September 21, 2017 I signed, sealed and mailed this letter to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation:

September 21, 2017

Mr. John P. Roche, CEO

Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation

P.O. Box 834

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Dear John,

It was my sincere pleasure to meet you briefly last month at the TRF table at the track in Saratoga. Please accept my congratulations on the new role you have assumed at the helm of TRF. I was excited to see the announcement shortly after making your acquaintance.

My husband and I have been supporters of TRF for several years and we are both enthusiastic ambassadors for the organization. As avid racing fans and horse-lovers, we embrace the challenge of raising the critical awareness and resources required to tackle the important issue of racehorse retirement.

As a lifelong horsewoman, I have seen the great potential for retired racehorses in the hunter-jumper world and as a relatively new TRF Sponsor (through the Second Chances Program at James River), I’ve seen the incredible impact of the horses on their caretakers. I simply adore these animals and I passionately believe in the mission of TRF to provide a safe home and long-term care for horses whose racing careers have ended.

I am writing to you today to share my passion for the organization you are leading and to make myself available as a resource to you and your team in any way that you may find useful. I present myself for your consideration not only as a supporter and willing volunteer, but also as a mission-driven contributor to the TRF team in Saratoga, should an opportunity arise. My husband and I are planning to move to Saratoga from Alexandria in early 2018, and my personal goal for this transition is to find a channel through to invest the full extent of my energy, enthusiasm and professional experience in an organization that is making the world a better place, and one whose mission aligns with my values and vision for how we can make that happen.

I hope that you might be open to an exploratory conversation and I would be delighted to schedule a call to do so. As next steps, I’d suggest that perhaps we connect on LinkedIn and I will follow up with a quick email in order to schedule time to speak over the next week or so.

Thank you for all that you do for the horses!

Sincerely,

Kim Weir

And, (with a lot of ups and downs in between) on May 1 2018 I started in the job that I was envisioning as I wrote this letter. That role did not exist when I wrote this letter… so the question is, did my writing the letter put something in motion in the universe to trigger the events that unfolded over the following four months to lead to John calling me on February 12th to tell me an opportunity was going to be available by the end of the month? Maybe? It sure seems like evidence that if you not only visualize your dream, but then put it out there visibly, verbally and in writing, it sure seems to help make it more likely to happen.

If I can get the Maven’s OK, I’ll try to share his version of this story. His “message in a bottle” was sent in an email, April 2017…

For now, if there’s one single thing that I feel I’ve learned from this journey is that there’s no downside, and possibly a huge upside, to just simply speaking your dreams out loud. If you say so clearly enough, perhaps loudly enough, at the right time, to the right person, they might just happen.

So, what’s my next dream?