Day 35

So, it's Saturday, 3:30, as I begin this. It seems like just yesterday that I went to work on a Tuesday, in Philadelphia, with my Manchester United warmup on. It was like 90degrees that day, and I worked until 4:30 or so, before scrambling home to pack before a 9:00 PM flight to London. I was so hot with that thing on, but if you remember Memorial Day weekend was like three sunny and 85 degree days in a row, so I needed a little extra motivation to get on an airplane and fly 3,500 miles away. And, now, here I am, on a rainy, 65 degree day, sitting on the couch in my flat, just wishing that I could slow time down before my flight home this upcoming Tuesday.

Why would I want to slow time down? I guess that I don't want to leave. And, I am having an interesting time exploring this. Let's face it, I will land in Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon, hopefully see my team, wake up on Wednesday morning in Margate, walk out onto the deck, the sun will be shining, the waves will be making whatever sound they choose to that day-and whatever they choose it is always the greatest sound, the cyclists, the runners, and the powerwalkers will be out in force on Atlantic Avenue, and the beach will be full of tan, fit, bodies. Doesn't sound too bad.

But, I have actually thought about this all week. I have always felt so priveleged. For whatever reason, the Big Guy(not Troy), the other Big Guy, decided that I would be blessed with the natural disposition to work hard. And, the ability persuade, and to lead. I didn't ask for it, I just found myself in that position, and know no other way to live than to run it, every day, to its fullest. In the end, it has created a fair amount of opportunity, respect for sucess, wealth, and options in life. The fact that I am in a wonderful flat in the heart of London today, is simple evidence. For a guy who never set foot on an airplane until he was 21, this is big stuff.

But, none of those are the biggest reward. And, I think I can begin to tie all of this together by circling back to the day I left for London. Maybe what I remember most about that day was when I left my office and me and the guy in the office next to me shared a hug and a tear together. A tear, sounds crazy doesn't it? I would never say this for the sake of sounding masculine, anyone who knows me knows that I am metro-sexual at best, but I probably haven't shed a tear in 20 years. And, to be fair, it didn't run down either of our eyes, but our eyes filled up. And, we had a good moment, and a good laugh about it. But it has been on my mind since it happened.

And, it is because we are family. It was like leaving my brother. We have been on a journey together for seven years. A journey that began with blind faith, an investment in blood, sweat, and tears, and happened to pay dividends of growth, wealth, and options for those with the fortitude to commit their entire self to that journey. Let's face it, we spend 10-12 hours of our day with a handful of people whom are solely brought together by the necessity to work, so we have a choice, we come in and do a job, or we take a journey together. Well, if you have ever been on a "journey", you know what I mean. And, you probably know that the greatest spoils of that journey aren't the professional growth, or the financial reward...they just become incidental to going on the journey. It is the sense of brotherhood, or family that you develop with your team. It truly becomes your second family. And, second family is a bit ironic, since the reality is that you spend more time with this family than your birth family.

Well, I have only been here for 5 weeks. And, in those 5 weeks we have had to make more decisions, and put more blind faith in one another than most do in a full year. We have pushed, and pushed back on one another...but slowly, slowly, I am seeing a sense of team, a sense of family, a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood develop. I see individuals beginning to defend the program, and defend one another. And, I feel a sense of family for me. A third family of sorts. That makes me pretty lucky. Not so much at Christmas, but for the rest of the year, it makes me pretty lucky.

I don't know if we will shed tears on Tuesday, but I think we will share hugs. And, I already, I feel like I am leaving family, in Harrow. I can only imagine how it will feel after my visits one year, two years, three years from now.

JV