It's Saturday morning and I must say, yesterday was pretty dang amazing! ...let me tell ya...
I was up early and going all day yesterday, mainly because I am trying to close on a "new to me" home before the end of this month. So where I would normally not be swamped with such a big to-do list, yesterday, i was runnin' around like a chicken with her head cut off!
Well, around 3:15, I get home and on my answer machine is a message from my sis-in-law, Ann, sayin' "aren't we supposed to be going to some Eons thing in Casa Grande at 6:00?" And... I gotta admit, I was thinking... no way, will I be able to get ready, pick Ann up, drive for an hour or more in rush hour traffic, and get to Casa Grande in any kinda mood to be socializing in an acceptable manner!
But, then I remembered that CommunityGal had said she was going to be there, and I wanted to meet her face to face... more than I wanted to see Jane and Jeff! I figured I HAD to go, even if I got there late!
We got there a little before 6:30 pm, I think. There was a good turnout of people and we were able to slip into seats in the back row. We filled out our entry forms for the big prize that evening and turned them in.
The program was fun and informative ... and I was pretty sure I was seeing some familiar faces in the crowd. Jeff Taylor and Jane Seymour, of course, up front... but also HippyGirl52, CommunityGal, Major48, DavidPhx, PetlovrAZ... to name a few.
At the end of the program, they gave out a new cell phone and also a really nice bike. Actually, when they pulled out the winning slip for the bike, it was folded like I had done and, for a minute, I tho't... maybe, just maybe I had won the bike. But, no... and that was "cool", because I was really just having a nice time with Ann and still excited at the tho't of getting to chat with folks there after it was over.
WELLLLL, what happened next... might be just a little blurry in this ol' brain. They asked Jane to pull the winning name for the grand prize of the evening, $2500.oo to the winner, to use to accomplish one of their LifePath Dreams. Jane pulled that little piece of paper out and said, "Marty Starks" (which is me!). I looked at Ann, Ann looked at me, we both SCREAMED at the top of our lungs, laffed, caught our breath for a second and screamed again! For about 10 seconds, the rest of the room just disappeared... all I could see was my "sis" that I had known since I was 19! And we both had smiles on our faces, from ear to ear!
I went down to the stage, hugged Jeff, hugged Jane, did my dorky "happy dance" while swingin' my cane, and honestly could not believe how lucky I was to win that prize, that night!! (I had almost not even come!) I also want to say how wonderful folks were afterwards, coming up, hugging me and congratulating me. They were smiling, too! It was a genuinely wonderful experience!
THANK YOU EONS, from the bottom of my Daydreamin heart!
HUGS TO YA, Marty
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PS - Wanna know my plans for my "winnings"? I have two amazing daughters, Shayla-26 and Monica-16, and I want to take a special vacation with just them. You see, Shayla was born on the tiny island of Teiceira, a part of the Azores Islands, Portugal... and we left there when she was only 9 months old. I have always wanted to show her where she was born... and now, THANKS TO EONS, I can take her and her sister for a once in a lifetime experience!
