Recently I had a retirement party and had a 50/50 Raffle. One lucky winner would win 50% of the proceeds and the other 50% went to a “Mystery Guest.” People were asking me who the mystery guest was and did they actually think I was going to tell them. I don’t think so. I had my mouth closed like someone pleading the 5th.
How did I select this mystery guest? Well I really wanted to bless this person because I just wanted them to know how much I appreciate their work and how their work was a blessing to me.
So I had it all planned out. I picked the most amazing person. I was working on my speech and then after I sent out the invitations, I promptly received an RSVP saying they couldn’t make it. “Darn it.” I really wanted to bless the. So I had to pick another mystery guest. Guess what happened…. they didn’t show up either.
So then I decided that I could not choose just one person. So I chose two. In alphabetical order my first choice was Alina Adams. I chose her because she is my voice instructor and she’s really patient, positive and gives really good feedback. She’s from the Ukraine and she’s a very talented violinist who honestly could have lived anywhere on the planet. But we found each other and I just appreciate her work. And also if she didn’t follow her dream of music then she would not have been there to help me when I found my dream of music.
Next comes Angeline Lucia DeGeorge. I first met Angeline at a Zumbathon at her dance studio and I was a guest instructor. I noticed she was a very talented dancer. After I quit being a Group Fitness Instructor, I decided to be the student and began taking classes with Angeline. I started with beginning tap and then convinced her to teach an adult ballet class. She told me if I could get 6 people to commit that she would do a class. The first class was very full with about 8. The second class was 4 and now it’s usually 4 to 6 regulars. After I decided I wanted to do a performance, I asked Angeline to choreograph it and work with her privately. So for six months I met with her weekly. It was very difficult, agonizing and rewarding. She’s also a very talented dancer and instuctor. I picked her to share as a Mystery Guest because after all, had she not followed her dream and passion of being a dancer than I would not have been able to follow my dream of being a dancer.
Bottom line, had they now shown up they would not have won and trust me they were happy they won.