By the time we got downtown the party was packed. Once the doorman found our name on the guest list, a waitress walked us to the roof of the bar. It was freezing outside, I was a bit concerned at first. When we got up there we saw our friends sitting around huge fire pits. At each table, there were large standing heaters behind the circle of guests. As I sat down at the table with our name, Stacy came over and gave us a big hug. He did a short introduction for the people at our table before walking back to the main entrance to welcome more guests. The view of the city under the stars and bright moon was magical.
Although there were a lot of people, it felt intimate. We haven’t been out like this for a while. Since the car accident last year, all we have been focused on is preparing to move to the Philippines for a program through my job. Almost losing my life made me realize life is too short not to explore the world. Stacy helped us plan the details. His sister had been over there for a few years with this program and they offered all the support we needed to make our move happen.
The people we met at the party had so many interesting things going on. One guy was trying to start his own airline, another woman was starting her own firm, and another guy was the personal chef of a famous athlete. We all had one thing in common. The couple that invited us. This couple influenced us all to follow our passions. As we listened to every story, we realized Stacy found a way to inspire and motivate everyone to take action.
…..
My husband’s phone went off; he walked inside to take the call. I saw him walking towards me a few minutes later as he finished up his call with a huge smile on his face. He hung up and said, “I have good news and bad news. Good news is, my job just promoted me to an executive. They are paying me way more with better perks! The bad news is we may have to postpone this little trip overseas for a while. I can’t leave right after this offer. Maybe we can go next year or something.”
He has to be joking, I thought as we made our way out of the party and towards our car. The whole ride home, he was on the phone with his mother telling her his news about work. I could tell she was giving him all kinds of praise by the boyish grin he was making. When he hung up the phone I turned the music all the way up to avoid talking until we got home. I was so pissed off that I knew whatever I was going to say would be full of way too much emotion. We walked in our house, I sat on the couch and took a deep breath.
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