Episode 57: Travis Suit
With Love to Piper.
Today is Valentine’s Day. Today we celebrate love. But I want to talk about a love that isn’t tied to a Kay Jewelers commercial urging men to buy women a diamond chip on the end of a golden necklace because “Every kiss begins with Kay.” Or the last-minute dash to CVS to buy a Hallmark card and a red Valentine’s Day box stuffed with different types of chocolate for your amour. Or a dinner in a fancy restaurant where all the tables have been craftily broken into two tops to accommodate the rush of couples, awkwardly sitting across from one another in semiformal wear looking more like they belong at an eighth-grade dance than participating in the romance ritual of the night where big love is celebrated.
This Valentine’s Day, I remember an employee at one of my spas who was losing his eyesight. Vision was a critical part of his work because he performed diagnostic scans of our guests, and then would review the guests’ vitals to give them an understanding of how to better maintain their wellbeing and emphasize areas to keep an eye on in the future. As his eyesight continued to diminish, he requested to work during daylight hours so he wouldn’t have to drive at night. Eventually, his wife began to drive him the 45 miles from their home to the spa so he could work. She wouldn’t even come inside to wait for him. She would patiently sit in the car after helping him set up his equipment, then at the end of his shift, help him load up his equipment and drive him back home. All before the sun set. I thought to myself, that is the kind of love to be celebrated!
I reflect on a personal experience I had when I was leaving the Spa at Four Seasons Westlake Village to take a different position at Four Seasons Las Vegas. My team of therapists, estheticians, reservationists, receptionists, and attendants, a little over 100 in all, hosted a farewell party for me. It was an unforgettable night when I received my flowers – sweet words of how I had changed their lives, remembrances of such happy times from opening that massive spa, our dashes to Wendy’s for lunch (chicken sandwich and fries) and sincere promises to keep in touch (which we have even 17 years later).
And today I think about my guest this week, Travis Suit. He did the impossible. He paddled boarded 80 miles from Bimini to South Florida to raise money for his daughter. He describes that grueling time in the ocean as crossing a Blue Desert. As he says with tears lovingly filling his eyes, “I can’t help but see how beautiful adversity can be for transforming the perception of life into just a moment-by-moment miracle. I never knew the greatest gift in my life was going to be my daughter and this disease.” His daughter’s name is Piper. Her disease is Cystic Fibrosis. A condition which leaves those who suffer with it, fighting to simply breathe. Her life and his were forever transformed by her diagnosis when she was just four years old. Piper had to physically and emotionally face the significant ups and downs of her health struggles which at one point led to her doctors installing a feeding tube in her stomach. Travis had to figure out how to keep his daughter alive and keep himself clear about supporting her through a disease that can be terminal. He did it by being honest with Piper about the seriousness of her situation. He learned to be bold in the face of fear. He embraced the need for surrender in his own life and believed that something greater would come from Piper’s diagnosis.
That something greater Travis hoped for was his founding of a nonprofit called Piper’s Angels Foundation that is helping Piper and the thousands of other people like her, live fuller and longer lives with Cystic Fibrosis. An organization that “transforms pain into light, grief into beauty and breath into song.”
On this day when gifts are exchanged and love renewed, I think about my former employee’s wife driving him to work and patiently waiting for him. I think about my team of incredible souls at Four Seasons Westlake Village and their love. I think about Travis and Piper. And how they together faced this adversity that walked unwanted into their lives. Of that difficulty Travis says, “Adversity is the starting line for courage. Courage becomes the fuel for inspiration in our life. And from there, inspiration can really open the door to devotion.” Devotion to Piper. The reason he swam across the Blue Desert.
