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.