persistence

Not exactly a holiday topic.  Unless you are referring to a child asking for the same thing from Santa every day.

I don't know about you, but sometimes writing helps me work through tough things.  So that is what I am going to do here.

Mike and I have owned our own business for almost 15 years.   As any small business owner will tell you, that means highs, lows, and a lot of hard work. 

For the last two years, we have been working (and I say 'we' loosely, as Mike has done all of the hard work) on a really incredible opportunity for our small business.  It has involved investing a lot of our own money and time, and heart.  It is an amazingly innovative product, that will really change the simulation world.

We found out the week before Christmas that we were not awarded the project.  And it has been really hard to take.

If you have ever experienced a major disappointment in your life, you will know how we feel right now.  I don't even want to use the word 'disappointment', as that doesn't begin to accurately describe it.

First, I felt anger.  Which is silly, but I'm just being honest.

Now I am just very sad, for what might have been.  This would have been a life changing deal for us, and in the tiny corners of our brain we would think of a bigger house, or being able to easily send Charlie to college, or doing amazing things for our store.  But we never planned on those things, because through the years we have learned that anything can happen, and there is no 'sure thing' until a contract is signed.

We will move forward.  We will  hold each other up.  We will come up with our next plan, and identify new opportunites.  But we will allow ourselves to feel a little bad, and eat some comfort food, and think about what might have been.

We know Charlie is watching, and seeing how we manage this. We are hoping to provide a good example to him, so that when life presents him with challenges, he will know how to stand tall, and not be defeated.

Mike is a really amazing man, and he was destined to be an entrepeneur.  I am so fortunate to have him for my husband, and my business partner.  In a note he sent to the other people we have been working with on this project, he included this quote:

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent

Calvin Coolidge