Eat yourself into friendship...

Today, I had lunch with a client (name withheld) to talk about how partnering with my organization would not only help solve a ton of their company's current issues, but would provide an incredible value proposition to the development of their staff.  The man I had lunch with was the consomate professional; intelligent, business savvy, incredibly knowlegable across competencies and very social.

He walked into the restaurant just as I was about to be seated.  From the moment we sat down, we talked...and talked and talked.  After our appetizer of black bean soup (with cilantro & a dollup of sour cream), we talked more.  Somewhere in between the Cobb salad bleu cheese crumbles and his glass of Coca-Cola, we solidified a partnership...I wager a friendship.  We spoke further about our families, his company's infrastructure, my son's disabilities, his company's new EDS system implementation, his plans for Christmas, our potential solutions to some of their issues.  You see the pattern. 

But something odd occurred as he ate his key lime pie and sipped his coffee.  For a brief moment, I saw into the complex life of this dad of 3/Corporate Director of LD/husband/on-the-side marriage prep counselor.  In the complex waves of life, there are those moments that seem to explain something that you can't put into words.  I know it sounds weird, but I felt like after a nice 90 minute lunch that I had known this man for my whole life. 

We shook hands a couple times before we both went to our respective cars and left to go back to our respective places of work.  The lunch meeting that we had was a success.  I was able to reestablish and solidify a relationship with a company that we'll be partnering with for the next year on multiple projects.  But more importantly, I feel wiser having met another really good human being trying to do what's right in his 'world.'  The world may be falling apart around us, but wow, there still are really great people trying to hold this place together.

What does a Catholic Christmas Program and Michael Jackson have in common?

I'm not Catholic.  My grandparents on my mother's side, my in-laws and my sister-in-law are.  I've been exposed to Catholicism most of my life, mainly from working in a festival booth during my summers from when I was 10 years old till about my 16th year of existence.  I used to work for a man named Walter Griggs who always had a hint of b.o. and typically had flem crusted on the corners of his mouth.  My mother and I would work his 'Dog Race' on the weekends and I'd make about $200 for 3 days of work.  Not bad for a 12 year old needing cash.  I digress.  Most of my experience with Catholicism was influenced by all the church festivals that I'd work at.  The pungent smell of that dog race and spilt beer comes to mind immediately. 
This week, my sister-in-law invited us to go to St. Mary's Church Christmas Program.  I thought, well, I've been to a lot of church festivals... So, today we went.  I loved it!  The church was gorgeous, the people were well dressed and the music was beautiful.  They broke up the program with scripture reads and musical interludes and solos.  It was really festive and I think we've found a new tradition.
Yeah, I'm not Catholic and I never will be (I'm a Mormon for crying out loud), but I really enjoyed the Christmas spirit that I felt tonight in that beautiful church.  It was a lot better than one of those polka/beer tent/bingo night extravaganzas of past adolescent memory.  So, thank you sister-in-law for inviting us!  It was very special.

**Side note** When we arrived, they handed out candles for the first part of the program to which they were lit and we sat there by candlelight for the first 20 minutes of the program.  During that time, my son Jude was holding the candle (stellar parenting skills on my part, I know).  He managed, during the 5 minutes that he was holding the candle, to cinge the front part of his bangs, not a little.  Afterward, his siblings, once they found out about his Michael Jackson incident, started singing made-up songs about this hair being cinged on the way home.  Funny memory for sure.

From this angle you notice 2 things: First you notice that Jude's mouth is missing another tooth.  Second, you can see his cinged hairs in plain view.