I have two voices battling constantly in my head. “You can do anything.” and “What the hell are your doing?”
For me, like most people with great parents, it’s 50–50. Each voice having equal stage time. Believing you can do anything but making excuses not to go for it.
A tiny 1% swing can change everything.
I know the exact date that it swung for me. Exactly 24 years ago today. July 1st, 1994.
But first some background…
I was obsessed with my sister’s best friend in high school. She was the prettiest, funniest, and most charismatic girl I had ever met. I stared at her picture for hours. Some people might call it “stalking” and they probably would be right.
The voices battled. 50–50. Frozen. Too chicken to do anything about it, except make her laugh (which I did well).
One day her parents threw her a big graduation party. It was time for the slow dance. Her parents were strict and she had to dance with someone that she had no interest in. I was her choice. Her best friend’s little brother. Most people would be pissed by the idea of being put in the friend zone but not me.
I was pissed for a different reason. I missed it. I was outside with my friends. As I write this, I can still feel the pain that boy felt knowing he blew his one chance to slow dance with the girl of his dreams.
Anyway life goes on.
When it came time for me to decide between taking a full scholarship to a noname college or following her to Boston University with a mountain of student debt……I went with the obvious choice..student loans it is!
Which brings me to July 1st, 1994. 24 years ago today.
On that day, her parents were out of town. She throws a raging house party. Lots of laughing and drinking. It was 5 am and she wakes me up.
She says those 3 magical words that I’ve been waiting to hear for 3 years….
“Are you drunk?”.
Disappointed, I say, “No. You?”
And then she leans in...
That moment changed the core of who I am.
I would never have made the first move. I was happy living in my fairy tale world, following her around, making her laugh. Scared to make a real move faced with the possibility of rejection.
She tipped the scales for me. She single-handedly made me believe I can do the impossible. The “You can do anything” voice is now in charge.
Yada Yada Yada. I married that girl and 3 kids and an iorad later… is how a 43 year old bio major with no coding or design skills still believes he can build a tech company.
So on this day. Happy 24 year anniversary - D. Thank you for making me believe that the impossible is possible.
How you like dem apples!
