Are there any ingredients missing in the manifesting my dreams to leave my job at the university and become a transformational author recipe? The main ingredient is belief that anything is possible and after having experienced countless examples of faith overcoming the normal trajectory of cause and effect, I have no lingering doubts. I’m working on a couple scoops of “I deserve it” and a whole cup full of “I’m talented and competent enough”. Like any good SWOT analysis, let me flesh out in more detail why I believe that the impossible is possible.
On July 12, 1996, one day before we were to be in New York to serve as godparents of my sister’s child, and two days before we were to be in my other sister's wedding party, my girlfriend and I were split up by Canadian immigration. For three grueling hours having been sent to the boarding gate and she sent home, all I could do was helplessly wait for some information. Any information. The attendants at the gate and most of the passengers knew of our situation. (I don't keep much to myself). For three hours, the attendants had been paging each other throughout the airport trying to locate a 5”2’ red head. I had no idea what her fate had been and had no choice but to get on the plane. Before I did, I made a last minute deal with my maker. “Bring her to me and I will propose on the spot!” Everyone else had already boarded the plane. I take one last look around and see only brunettes. I reach in my pocket for my boarding pass. Nothing. I look in another. No pass. I frantically look to where I was sitting, and then time stood still. I whispered "She has my boarding pass!" What do I do now? I look to a flight attendant in my pitiful state. She looked back just as helpless. The moment was transformed when I then notice a little bit of red from the corner of my eyes. It’s her!
It turns out that the officials did ask her to leave the airport. She left the security area and sat down to cry, not knowing where to turn. An older, Archie Bunker looking gentleman spotted her and took her to an office where she was able to call her father. The thought came to her that maybe the university could help so she had her father call them and they indeed came through with an extension to her visa, even though she had already graduated. Impossible, right? It was faxed to the airport minutes before boarding time.
I did not waste any time. I got down on my knees and proposed. She said yes! We called her parents on the air phone. They said yes. The plane erupted in applause.
Within five days, we went to my sister’s wedding, baptized my other sister’s child, had a civil wedding in the Bronx with just one witness, a reception thrown at the Marriott in the city, a life insurance policy and an immigration lawyer to initiate permanent residency. The immigration case went no-where for nearly two years and we set the date for a family wedding in Canada of July 16, 1998. Three weeks to go before wedding day in Canada and still no sign of her residency card. If this does not sound like a big deal to you, keep in mind that without an active residency status and with an immigration case pending, she was not allowed to leave the US. Our options were a) postpone the wedding and let the 10 friends and relatives that had bought their tickets know that they should cancel their travel arrangements b) go on with the wedding but conference her in from the US (my idea!) c) trust that in the next three weeks, after having spent two years waiting with no help from the lawyer in New York, the impossible will be made possible. Tomorrow I’ll tell you what happened and how cause and effect was turned on its head.
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