Saturday, October 27, 2007

Ask And You Shall Receive

Every once in a while I have a class that changes my perspective. This week was one of those classes. I’m taking a class in negotiations and we did a negotiation exercise in which we had to negotiate a job offer with another classmate that acted as the recruiter. We were given a paper with point values assigned to different things to negotiate. In the process of this negotiation, we found we had many competing interests, so many that when we started negotiating about location, we didn’t ask for what we really wanted, we each gave in a little from what we really wanted. As a result, the one location that would have helped us both best we never asked for.

It made me wonder how many chances I’ve passed up just because I don’t ask for exactly what I want. This served as a wake up call that there is never any harm in asking for what you really want, the worst that you can get is a “no”, so go for it!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

The Perfect Day

I owe you all a big thanks for still checking in, I apologize for my lack of posting, I’m not living up to my own standards. But here it is at last, the wedding post.

Everyone says that their wedding day is the greatest day of their lives. I always thought that was one of those things people say because they have to say it. Kind of like those parents who say their baby is the most beautiful thing in the world, when it is obvious the kid shouldn’t have that strange appendage growing out of his forehead. Well, I’ve now become one of those people in regards to my wedding; it was the best day ever.

I’m sure you are familiar with the concept of “The Perfect Storm,” several rare and key pieces falling into place at exactly the right moment in time at exactly the right place to create something much greater than the individual pieces. That is the only way I can really describe my wedding day. It was really four huge things coming together where they needed to: the girl I love, family and friends, an awesome celebration, and yes, the car of my wildest dreams.

Let me begin with the most important part, the girl. Those of you who are married may or may not remember a time in your life when you spent years, the better part of 2 decades, believing you would never find that perfect person to spend the rest of your life with. If you’re single and my age (28+), you no doubt have thought this at some point. The hopelessness of that place was a difficult thing to shake, and something I had to shake before dating my now wife. Finally seeing her in her dress, ready to give the rest of her life to me, was no small thing, and something I pray I never take for granted. It was the perfect moment with the perfect person.

If that weren’t enough, nearly everyone I know was there to be there to celebrate it with me. It didn’t really sink in how many people cared and were there to support us until we turned around half way through the service and looked out at a sea of smiling faces, and recognized every one. There are few moments in your life when so many people come out to support you. I expect the next will be my funeral.

The third part of this perfect day, was the reception. The perfect reception. Now I have no delusions that my reception was any better than other billions of wedding receptions on Earth, but it was with people that were there to support me, and that wanted to be there with us. I’ll never forget the cheers, applause, and the general excitement as we went through our first dance, a dance we spent months working on and just over 2 minutes performing. It made all the time put in so worthwhile.

A side note on the reception. I may be the only one that remembers this, but during dinner the DJ played the song “Mr. Jones” by Counting Crows, one of the top 5 most influential songs in my teenage years. One line of the song says “We all want something beautiful, man I wish I was beautiful.” As we at dinner that evening, I realized I had found my something beautiful, and I was that something beautiful to someone else.

Finally, the object I identify most with was there that day…the DeLorean. The DeLorean for me represents achieving and living out my dreams, accomplishing the impossible, and most importantly living today in such a way that prepares you for a future greater than ever expected. I can’t think of a better way to describe my wedding day. I’m long overdue for a post describing the meaning of this car throughout my life, but it has been a part of my life for 22 of my 28 years and it still blows my mind that I drove it away from my wedding in it.

There it is. I’d love to post some pictures, but per my policy, I don’t post people’s pictures, and that is all that wedding pictures are. Ask me some time and I’ll go through them with you if you would like.

No post could ever capture the emotion, the excitement, and the joy of having so many things come together in one day for me, but I hope this gives you a glimpse into the why it was such a perfect day for me.