No April Fools, Just Carmodys on Zoom (April 1, 2026)
April fools is an interesting time of the year. My mom likes to remind me (and I’m not making this up) that it was the day I fell out of my bunkbed and broke my left arm. I was 5 years old and in kindergarten at the time. My brother was 3 and came in to tell my entire class that I wouldn’t be in school today because I broke my arm.
This was said matter of factly, but rather than being acknowledged, he was teased about attempting to play an April Fools Day prank. My classmates responded, “Yeah, we know about that. You can’t fool us!” It was a very traumatic day for my brother to hear my mom tell it.
Of course, the next day when I showed up with a cast on my arm, everyone was shocked and would have apologized to my brother for not believing him (if he was around to tell). I have, since that time, broken every limb in my body and dislocated my shoulder 3 times. Yes, I play hard and I’ve never allowed a few broken bones to stop me from extreme sports such as pole-vaulting (right leg), sparing in karate (right arm), or fighting with my brother (left leg).
Two of my dislocations were in the ocean. I wish I could say they were surfing, but I was boogie boarding. The other dislocation was climbing a tree when my first dislocation hadn’t fully healed. I was in Brussels at the time for my cousin Brent’s wedding.
I swear all of this is true. This post is not an elaborate April Fools joke. I only share it because it’s a memory that my mom shares annually at this time and helps me reflect on my incredibly adventurous life. Here we are talking about this very topic on Zoom:
Four of the ten Carmody’s on our First Wednesday of the Month Zoom
This truly is the greatest thing that happened to me as part of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past 6 years, the Carmody’s have gotten together to check in with each other. It began with a simple, “Everything okay with you?” and evolved into hearing about each other’s lives — the good, the bad and the ugly.
In that time, my Aunt Ann Marie, who used to join us for these calls passed away. So did my cousin Charles who was my age. His father, Roger (my dad’s brother) still joins us most months. I can’t tell you how much I love these zoom meetings each month. I’m able to stay connected even when I’m traveling. This time I zoomed in from Japan. Last month I was in Thailand:
Roger, Elle, Kevin, Brian, Georgiana, Bill Sr, and Elaine Carmody
When I first began my travel abroad, I didn’t join these meetings. The first few times I was staying in the homes of fellow coaches and I didn’t want to “check out” to be online — especially in the middle of the night at 3am local time. But as I migrated to our own Airbnb spaces (and the time difference became more manageable), I resumed these calls and am so glad I have. I always leave feeling deeply connected to my family and updated on each of their lives.
Today, I shared about my discovery of fish being dispensed in street vending machines here in Tokyo and my cousin Elaine shared one of her favorite live streams:
Yep, this is a live stream of bald eagles in a nest. in Big Bear, California. I also shared my plans for Japan and South Korea while acknowledging I still have the months of May and June to plan out before deciding what I want to do when I return home in July.
It’s a big question. I know I’m not returning to Positive Intelligence. I was clear about that when I left back in May 2025. What I’m less clear on is how I want to structure my time between working with Brynn Smith on AskBill.us, coaching, writing and training. These past nine months have been an incredible journey. I believe it’s just the beginning of something that hasn’t quite yet unfolded. But I know I have my family to lean into and that they are here for me as I explore the most important questions ahead of me. I’m really lucky to have this support in my life — even when I’m thousands of miles away in Tokyo, Japan.
