I’m currently sitting on a coach leaving Southern Cross Station at 10pm on Monday night. The trains have been replaced by coaches so this will be a two hour long journey home to Ballarat which will give me plenty of time to write this week's blog. I have to write it before Friday because we’ll be celebrating our traditional family holiday on the 1st - it’s May Day.
May Day started 5 years ago and was born through necessity. Matt and I were sick of saying ‘No’ to the kids so we created a ‘Yes’ day when the kids could get something that wasn’t essential or a new pair of shoes for school but perhaps get something that was silly or a little bit fun. Owning a prefab building company for 10 years took everything we had so our disposable income was always nonexistent. This annual pilgrimage gave us an opportunity to save whatever cash we could so we could blow it all on a hotel, dining out and maybe a show if there was something rad on.
We used to tell the kids that they could get whatever they wanted on May Day but we changed that last year after they became feral jerks and demanded everything, in every store. We now give them a budget that they can spend on whatever they want which presents a great lesson in opportunity cost as they have to decide where and how to distribute their funds.
Buying new stuff is obviously a big part of May Day and we use that as an excuse for not buying stuff all year but as the kids get older, food has become a major, almost more important, part of the two day experience. We’ve been talking about the menu for MONTHS! Where are we going to have lunch on Friday, what about breakfast on Saturday. Friday night dinner is obviously the highlight and we’re still in negotiation with the kids between Fonda or some fancy Sushi Train on Little Collins Street that I can’t remember the name of.
This is a major win for us as parents because all Matt and I really want to do is go to nice restaurants and eat delicious food. I want to be able to take the kids with us and have them appreciate the skill and creativity required to make dining an experience. We spend a lot of time discussing and making food at home so May Day becomes like an excursion where we get to see how the professionals do it. My objective is for them not to just order ‘hot chips’. We could possibly stretch to ‘pommes frites’ but the whole point is we want to eat things we can’t make ourselves. We want an experience.
Neither kid is quite ready for fine dining but we’ve at least got them thinking beyond fast food outlets being the only restaurant worth visiting. Alice this year has suggested we go to the Hello Kitty restaurant in Melbourne Central for breakfast on the Saturday which is an improvement on Macca hot cakes. We’re getting there.
I have this vision of doing May Day with the kids when they’re older. We just meet them somewhere amazing and eat beautiful food together. It would be fun to do it in different parts of the world. It could happen. The kids are already talking about how they'll do May Day with their families when they’re older which is cool. Maybe this will be our legacy?
‘Laptop’ is misleading because actually writing on your lap with it is shithouse. I miss my quiet carriage on the train with its pull down tray. I also think I get car sick on a bus while typing but not while typing on a train which is interesting. Perhaps it's a wheel versus rail issue but I’m going to have to cut this short before I throw up my ice cream that I had for dinner.
It's a long and lovely story as to why I had ice cream for dinner and it involved hanging out with one of my new speaker friends, Mish, before I was on a panel for the latest PSA Event, which I’ve just come from, hence the late night coach. As a panel member I got to reflect on my experience of the Global Speaker Summit that I attended in March. I was honored to be asked to represent a new member's perspective and was really excited to be able to share my experience alongside Kate Dillion CSP and Suresh GP.
It was wonderful to see what each person took with them from the same experience. I look at life through a really over excited lens so it was interesting to see other insightful takeaways from more experienced members. Everyone had something to offer, along with feedback from the audience which is always a huge part of any PSA event.
I also wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been so welcoming to me as a new member. The very fact that I was part of this panel was testament to the support and encouragement they offer each and every member of the organisation. One of the topics we had on the panel was about community and PSA does it well. It makes sense that a group of professional communicators are really good at connecting but they're also super generous with their expertise and energy. One of my main takeaways was that speaking is an exchange of energy, what we give out to the world, we get back and after my experience on Monday night, who knows where this awesome community will take me.
Happy May Day!
