Hello my 'fabulous four' grandchildren, Kate, Lucy, Willem and Alexander.
This is your Grandpa Bill, sometimes Grandpa Beef, checking in from Africa - Sub Saharan Africa, that is, to my Tunisian babies.
I'm in Zambia today, fly to Lilongwe in Malawi tomorrow, where Jessica, Lianne and I will join the Tour d'Afrique. We start our ride April 7.
So why, kids, am I doing this ride?
First of all - taking a page out of your book Lucy - it's fun - it's an adventure. I can just see you sitting on my handlebars, grinning, laughing, enjoying every minute of it! Every day as the adventure unfolds, I'll be thinking of you, Luce.
(Code L = Lucy = Fun and Adventure)
Second - As I ride, I'm going to have time to think. You're a great thinker Kate. You always make amazing observations and then you follow that up by figuring out how everything fits together. As I ride along, I will be thinking, contemplating, pondering about the world's most pressing problems. You are incredibly smart, I'll draw my insights about thinking from you Katy-Kate.
(Code K = Kate = Thoughts, thinking, Understanding)
Third - riding my bike is going to be a time for creativity - a time for a little of Edward de Bono's 'green hat' stuff. When it comes to creativity, Will Will, you are my hero, my source of inspiration. As I ride, I'll think of your imaginary 'lung cutters' and the fun we had 'operating' with them. I'll remember how you can spend hours creating environments, societies, mythical characters, adventures. You live in a world where nothing is impossible. Alternately stated - Everything is possible. It's going to take creativity to solve some of the world's most thorny problems, but you will be with me Will as the solutions for these challenges unfold.
(Code W = Willem = Creativity, Intuition, Problem solving)
Fourth, riding my bike through Africa will be a time for me to emote, to express and to experience my feelings, my gratitudes. I may not have told you this before, Ander, so I'll do so now. I don't know anyone else, regardless of age who is so connected to their emotions, their feelings, as you are my oldest grandchild. Conventional wisdom suggests that we look to the old, the published, the worldly, when it comes for advice or insights into our emotional world. For me, Ander, I look to you. I learn from you every day. When riding my bike, whenever I feel happy, ecstatic, sad - I'll be thinking of you. By the way, I see that the Rockets won their series with a 7th game win, but now they are behind with the Tri City Americans - go Rockets! Also, your science project was beyond brilliant - well done - I am so proud of you.
(Code A = Alexander = Emotions and Feelings)
So now you have it - the CODE!
Each day will be an experience, a quest, a journey of great significance.
Each day I will experience all aspects of the CODE.
It will be like a WALK in the park,
Get it? The CODE
WALK
W = Willem = Creativity, Intuition, Problem solving
A = Alexander = Emotions and Feelings
L = Lucy = Fun and Adventure)
K = Kate = Thoughts, thinking, Understanding)
Each day I will experience all of these codes and I will think of each of you.
I will write about all of these in the weeks ahead......
Some creativity...... a little gratitude........ a little fun...... many thoughts.....
For those of you who don't know my second generation babies, suffice it for you to know that Kate is the most intellectually alert person on the planet.
Lucy is the most fun-loving and most adventurous person alive.
Will gets the universe's gold, silver and bronze medals for imagination and creativity.
No one, any where, all ages included, has more emotionally intelligence than Ander.
One thing that you, dear reader, needs to know about me - I have no biases!
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