MPowered

It's funny what can transpire in a year.

A year ago at a tool expo in Florida we felt ourselves settling into owning a business. The husband loved his costumers, and they loved him. The 5-years-in-business mark was getting close enough to see. The husband had brought us into the top 200 distributers in the nation, and our eyes were set on top 30.

We had found a rhythm, a predictable routine that I had mastered. I loved the sight of the store-on-wheels rolling in and out of the driveway every day, and the kids loved visiting Daddy on his truck.

So it felt completely natural to laugh away the very pointed "If-you-ever-have-the-opportunity-to-be-a-district-manager...." questions that came our way all during expo 2011.  For whatever reason, our senses were dulled to the path of clues that was layed out during those four days........until the flight home when I abruptly woke up from a nap on the plane. In that moment, it suddenly hit me that so-and-so said he was being promoted, leaving his job wide open. It was obvious to me that our current district manager would fill his shoes leaving his job wide open for.......my husband.

"But we can't leave our business!" I almost shouted out to everyone in the plane before I melted into my favorite defense mechanism - sleep.

And the thought never came back to me again, until the night in April when the husband told me he was asked to apply for the district manager position in our area. All of my in-flight pre-suppositions had been right on the money.

So we tiptoed our way through the summer, taking the next steps, trusting, wondering how far to go, and just walking through each open door. I was cryptic with my words as I went months keeping the secret and wondering why I was so emotional over a tool truck.

The agonizing weekend of waiting for the company's decision landed over the big wedding. To this day, I'm still not sure if the words in my toast were for us or them: "...it’s not just about surviving the moments, surviving the uncertainty and waiting for the clarity, it’s about living right through it all, it’s about learning from it all, and it’s in knowing that these messy, crazy, uncertain moments are the ones that make us who we are."

Finally, we knew and I let more out...

and then we slapped a smile on our faces and seized the day...

and we got through the whirlwind of ramping up...

and then...

it was expo again.

 

Expo 2012: MPowered. All the dust from the ladder climbing has settled, and we find ourselves, the driven, type-A perfectionists that we are, standing in the whirlwind of Las Vegas wondering how District Managers and District Managers' wives act at expo.



And then he just does it. The introverted, anti-social, small-talk loathing, slightly critical husband of mine laughs and smiles and everybody-in-the-district includes his way through a week of 16 hour days. He unknowingly takes me on a journey of seeing past the first impressions, seeing past the exteriors of our distributors to the people that are really there.

The Vietnam veteran living with side effects from Agent Orange.

The dad helping raise a step-son with significant special needs and proudly telling me of his step-son's contagious laugh.

The goofy, fun-loving couple putting their customers first and adoring their grandchildren. 

 

{alas, too much light and no tripod for a truly good long exposure shot}

And somehow we've melted into these roles.



{a friendly bystander was willing to take our picture}

I can hardly believe how much change can take place in one year and how we settled into the change so much quicker than I ever deemed possible.

{he was even a camera turner! but we ruined the shot}

It's just all a confirmation that we are where God wants us to be....

...and that the things He gives (and takes away) really are good.



Expo is like life; it is what you make it and what you learn from it.