I’ve been honored to be a guest at three weddings this year! At 38 (39 on Friday), that’s significant because you may be imagining that I am attending second weddings for my friends that I grew up with that have been through divorces and are getting remarried.
Not these weddings! My amazing personal training and friend Diane got married in May at her father-in-laws home in Ft. Collins to an absolute gentleman. I had not gotten the pleasure of meeting Chase before that day but I have to admit that their love shows genuine effortlessness. It is truly the highest honor to be invited to a client’s wedding because it includes me in their biggest moments and it is an invitation of immeasurable gratitude on her part. Here’s a quick pic of the beautiful ceremony!
Congrats Diane and Chase Christensen! It means more to me than you know to be invited to your biggest moments!
Near the end of June, my niece (a young’in at 21 years old) tied the know with her fiancé Austin Moore in Billings, Mt. My hometown! Their tagline was “One more Moore”, how cute is that!
My parents gifted me a flight to and from the wedding so that I could be there with Madison, my sister, and extended family. The joy at the ceremony and reception was all that I needed to see they are a great pair! Although it was a simple ceremony, that’s all they needed to celebrate with their family and friends over BBQ kabobs, burgers, and grilled chicken. All of the family contributed to the cooking, even my dad manned the grill for two hours, always putting others first as a father and grandfather. Take a look at my beautiful niece and her husband having a blast at their wedding!
At this point, I’ve made pretty little effort to get to and from the weddings I could not miss! Now, on to one of my top favorite weddings I’ve been a part of… and I’ve seen a lot because of my banquet manager experience at The Brown Palace Hotel and The Stanley Hotel.
David Gates and I have known each other for 21 years now. His older brother Adam and I have been best friends since my senior year in high school, dating back to ’98! Sheesh, I’m getting old! And I have the utmost respect for their father, Bill. All three were important reasons why I couldn’t miss David’s wedding in East Jordan, MI.
Dani Feret, his fiancé, and I worked together at Old Chicago for years and I knew that when I was invited I would see many old coworkers too!
David moved in as my roommate from Atlanta Georgia about five and a half years ago, needing a change while being closer to Adam. All good reason to move most of the way across the country! Bill drove out with him and it was a mini reunion of sorts. David brought his awesome dog Ray Lewis and while he had a lot of belongings, furniture, and doubts in his mind about his career, his move in was pretty seamless.
He quickly found a job doing pool maintenance and flourished with the experience he brought with him from Atlanta, doing the same work there since college. Less than a month after his move, we decided to host a Regression to Childhood party at our place to introduce him to my friends. We had twister, board games, and much more plus we added a pajama theme to the event! It was meant to be casual and fun to really show off David’s personality because he chose to wear Batman undies over the top of shorts or workout pants.
Before the party, we made the trip to Old Chicago to grab a beer, pizza, and wings. As soon as we entered, David asked, “Who’s that?” while pointing at Dani across the bar. I called over to Dani quickly, introduced them, and the next five and a half years we saw them grow individually and as a couple.
David now runs Pisces Pools and is flourishing as a business owner, home owner, and dog dad to Ray and Nala. Give him a call if you or someone you know has a pool that they want taken care of with expertise and passion for service!
I felt the excitement they had for their upcoming wedding since their engagement and I wouldn’t think to miss it for anything. This time travel was a lot harder because work was extremely busy and flying out on a Friday on a holiday weekend was pretty busy! All that behind me, I was excited to land in Grand Rapids and see the wedding guests, former coworkers, and friends. Delays on the way home were a totally different story… more on that in a bit.
East Jordan is three hours from Grand Rapids, MI and the Prius I rented made the trip there and back in less than one tank of gas! Highly recommend it for a road trip just like this! I barely made the ceremony with five minutes to spare, grabbed a quick hug from David and Adam and found my seat for the event. It was absolutely beautiful at the event location for their wedding! Here are the bride and groom with Ray and Nala after they were married by David’s former roommate.
Pictures and cocktail hour ensued and I made a point to say hi to all the Old C’s crew, most of whom were bridesmaids and met their significant others I had seen on Facebook and Instagram. I decided to introduce myself and chat with Dani’s cousins whom I had never met. All of which were from Michigan, (which is why they chose East Jordan) totally pleasant, and just as fun as the rest of the Feret family.
During the whole wedding, I couldn’t help but feel joy for David and Dani plus the gratitude to be a part of the celebration. Both of them have been friends for years and have also joined a workout (or twenty) with me over the past six years when the same friend group was headed to Vegas together!
All in all, the wedding was well planned by Dani and executed perfectly by all involved to make guests, family, and friends feel like a big part of their special day. Dani and David Gates are the perfect match for each other and I remember watching them grow together over the year and a half we lived together. Here are a few picture to highlight their wedding before I share a funny story about the trip home.
Remember earlier when I mentioned that Adam and I have known each other for 22 years?! Yep, this photo pretty much sums up our friendship. Wild, crazy, and always there to carry one another through the ups and downs of our adult life since meeting at Cross Country practice back at Chatfield High School in ’97. I was entering my senior year, had sent off my other best friend to college, and needed a new group to cause trouble with… Adam was that guy and has been ever since.
As luck would have it, Adam had extra room in his hotel for me so I crashed with him…. originally planning to camp the night of the wedding. This was a much better plan because it allowed me to join Bill, his wife Fran, and Adam for brunch the next day at Boyne Mountain Resort. It’s a beautiful, sprawling hotel at the base of a ski resort in upper Michigan with a brunch omelette station I could have spent the day eating from.
By then it was time to make the drive back to Grand Rapids and as holiday weekend traffic goes, a three hour drive took four. I returned my rental and quickly found out my first flight to Baltimore was delayed two hours for sure causing me to miss my connecting flight to Denver. Southwest Airlines took care of me quickly and moved me to the last flight out at 10 pm (which also ended up being delayed two hours) but that didn’t help fill the time on my now three hour layover. Thankfully, I have plenty to do at all times producing the podcast for you guys.
So, imagine you’ve been traveling since 10 am (8 am Denver time) and have been delayed at the airport until a final departure time of 12:05 am Monday morning. Now imagine you have a six am workout with podcast guest Reese Lasley that you don’t plan to miss… ever. Yeah, that’s about where I’m at by this time on my trip home, the second weekend trip in a row, and just wanting to crawl into bed and pass out. That sets the scene for the flight home to Denver…
I’m seated next to 7 and 8 year old sisters whose parents work for Southwest so we are right up front and they are traveling without family. They both pass out as soon as the plane takes off and the younger sister decides that my shoulder is THE BEST PILLOW ever! Haha, no sleep for Dave. Really sweet kids, I promise. Noisy sleepers though and the younger one tosses and turns the whole flight. Seriously, feet in my lap kind of tossing and turning.
Beverage service comes around and I may have asked for a sprite for me and two tequilas for the girls. Definitely me trying to make light of hours of delays and my travel companions being zero fun, even for 1 am! From there, the flight is smooth and long but uneventful.
I’ll wrap this up quickly, I promise, make my point so that you can check out the latest episode of the podcast with Daniel Amis where we dive into Nice Guy Syndrome and the three phases women go through before the meet “Mr. Right”!
So the plane lands and the two sisters are first off the plane, I step out into the aisle, grab my bag from the overhead bin, and wait patiently to disembark. Finally walking off the plane, the flight attendant hands me a napkin and says, “You dropped this”.
I pat down my pockets to ensure nothing else is left behind and put my phone and the napkin in my pocket. It takes me halfway up the ramp to realize what just happened… she had slipped me her contact information.
Now here’s the lesson learned and why I’m bringing this part of my travel story up to you guys today. The important lesson learned here is to understand TIMING.
First things first, I have to respect a person for taking a shot or a chance before it slips away. On the podcast, I’m always going to encourage you to step far outside your comfort zone and approach someone you’d like to get to know or ask out on a date because that’s how I think the can spark happen for us to find lasting love.
However, the timing in this situation is off a bit and does not necessarily increase the chances of meeting someone and here’s why! Everyone on that flight had been delayed. All day. Some were frustrated, others were just plain tired. I was very tired by this point and didn’t even realize what had happened nor did I see that coming.
I may have said those three or four words when ordering my drink, offering up a joke, and then flew in silence for four hours. Our flight attendant certainly didn’t recognize that at 2:30 am it wasn’t like we were leaving the bar and had talked for five minutes over a drink. The question wasn’t asked whether I was available, married, or have a girlfriend. The timing of the situation didn’t offer up the opportunity to respect any boundaries of that nature.
Did I take offense to the unwelcome advance? Not really, although I was flattered and surprised to have this happen at that time, I didn’t have the chance to mention I’m not available for dates;) I made the easy decision to find a trash can and move on while being conscious of how much energy I’m putting out there when trying to make a quick joke!
What I want you to take away from the blog today is trust your gut when taking that shot and approach your crush, that stranger at the grocery store, or cubical mate.
Is your gut telling you this is the right timing? If so, GO FOR IT!!!
If your gut is telling you to go home, get some sleep, and be patient and have faith that God has a plan for you? If so, trust that instinct because it’s his way of speaking to you when you are open to hearing the messages meant for you now and in the future.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Spotify now to be the first to know when a new episode drops each Monday and Friday! Please share this post on your favorite social media platform if you found it funny, insightful, or helpful in any way! That’s the best way to get the message of authentic dating out to more people and change the way the Denver dates!