It Was Magic

I've always been obsessed with magic.

So was Brayden.

When he was younger, we took him to the Cincinnati Zoo in October for "Hallzooween" and watched a magic show that absolutely blew his mind. To be fair, it blew mine too. I still can't explain some of what we saw that day.

Brayden could.

"It was magic!", he explained.

(Brayden's reaction at the Magic Show)

That apparently settled it.

So naturally, the next thing we did was buy him a magic kit.

It came with a DVD that taught him how to perform the tricks, and I can still picture him sitting in the back of our minivan learning them. His sister, Aubrey, was under strict instructions not to look at the screen on his side because then she'd know how everything worked.

He'd learn a trick. Practice it. Then perform it for Michelle, Aubrey and me.

And you know what? There are still a few of those tricks I can't explain.

Except, of course, "it was magic!"

As we get older, life has a way of making us a little more skeptical. We learn how things work. We get busy. Calendars fill up. Responsibilities grow. Somewhere along the way, it becomes harder to believe there's still magic hiding in the world around us.

Early in my career, I read The Disney Way, and it gave me a completely different perspective on magic. Disney understood that the experience guests perceive as effortless is anything but. Behind the scenes are carefully designed systems, shared beliefs and thousands of details most guests will never see.

The systems aren't the magic.

They make room for the magic to happen.

Looking back, that's exactly what Brayden was doing in the back of our minivan. There was a method behind every trick. He practiced. He followed the steps. He believed he could pull it off.

But when he finally performed it for us, we didn't see any of that.

We just saw the magic.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately because, in many ways, it's what we're trying to do at Brave Like Me.

Our mission is to create moments of uninhibited joy for children facing complex medical conditions. And those moments can look incredibly simple from the outside.

It's a Brave Kid sitting beside their best friend at a baseball game instead of spending another afternoon thinking about medical tests. It's a child in New Orleans getting their hands covered in clay and creating something they'll proudly see in their home long after that afternoon is over.

And, of course, Brave Pets is chock-full of magic.

Long before the first child entered one of our Mobile Family Pet Reunion Centers, teams of incredibly talented people spent months thinking through details that families would hopefully never notice. SHP Architecture + Design helped us imagine the space. We hosted a focus group with Kraemer Design + Production at Wyoming Community Coffee. Access Audio helped us think about how the experience should look, sound and feel. INK Expo helped bring that vision to life.

There are systems, procedures, technology, cleaning protocols and countless other details working quietly in the background.

But when those doors open and a child sees their dog?

None of that matters.

They just see the magic.

And maybe that's one of the most beautiful things I've learned over the past few years.

Magic doesn't have to mean something impossible happened.

Sometimes magic is what happens when people care enough to make an extraordinary moment possible for someone else.

That's also what we've always wanted Bravesgiving to feel like.

From the moment the doors open, it shouldn't feel like another gala. Yes, we gather to raise the money that makes our mission possible. But Bravesgiving should also be an expression of that mission itself. It should be filled with joy, surprises, connection, laughter and moments that remind us there is still so much good in this world worth being amazed by.

It's why I'm especially excited to announce that Amazement Artist® Jon Petz will join us as our keynote speaker this year.

Jon knows a thing or two about creating amazement. He'll wow us, make us laugh and share a remarkable story that I think will leave all of us feeling, at least for a little while, like kids watching a magic show again.

And isn't that something we could all use?

Maybe growing up doesn't mean the magic disappears.

Maybe we just get better at seeing the strings, the systems and the work happening behind the curtain.

But every once in a while, we're given the chance to stop analyzing how the trick works and simply allow ourselves to be amazed.

I'm starting to think we should take those chances more often.

Because life is full of moments we can explain.

The ones we remember forever are often the ones we can't.

Sometimes, the best explanation really is the one Brayden gave me all those years ago.

Brayden would remind us that all along, "It was magic!"

Onward with Bravery!

John Otten
CEO & Co-Founder
Brave Like Me Foundation