Rules, Rules, Rules

In the fall of 2011 I happened upon a contest put on by the author and business woman, Susan Steinbrecher.

It was being promoted in conjunction with the release of her book ‘Kensho: A Modern Awakening – Instigating Change in an Era of Global Renewal‘.  

The contest idea was simple; tell a story of an ‘aha moment’, an awakening, in your life.  I was about to tell my Napkin Dad story when I read the fine print in the rules. It appeared to me from my reading of the rules that I would be handing over the copyright to my story if I submitted it and it won.  I, of course, was not interested in letting that happen and so I wrote to the contest and told them of my concerns.

A while later I received an email from Susan apologizing for the wording in the rules and explaining they had no desire to own the copyright of any story and had changed the rules to reflect that.  I was happy to hear that but I really didn’t hold out much hope I would win since I had sort of been in their face about the rules.  But,  I submitted it anyway. I put it in the ‘good thing I read the fine print’ category and pretty much forgot about it.

Lo and Behold

I got a call not too long thereafter telling me I had won the grand prize, which was a 3 day 2 night stay at the Gaylord Texan, a huge resort hotel just outside of Dallas, in Grapevine, Texas.

The certificate came along with material from both the hotel and from Susan’s company, Steinbrecher and Associates (a leadership consulting firm) and her 2 bestselling books, the aforementioned ‘Kensho: A Modern Awakening’ and her prior book, ‘Heart-Centered Leadership‘.  I realized I was in pretty heady company.  

My wife, Linda was very excited about it since it included an hour long massage at their Relache Spa for both of us.  

It said we would get to stay in a ‘Presidential Suite’ which sounded cool, and had a free dinner awaiting us at one of their restaurants, Zeppole. All in all it sounded like a great mini-holiday awaited us.

Zeppole Restaurant in the Great Atrium

We thought about when we might want to go but really couldn’t figure out a good time for quite a while. Our daughter, Caitlin, was going to Baylor, south of Dallas, and we drove through Dallas regularly, but exactly when we would find time for a weekend there was murky.  Finally the opportunity presented itself when Caitlin finished school and moved to Dallas. We would go there for the fourth of July and she would be able to enjoy it with us!

Fireworks over the hotel

Part Zero (the napkin)

Part One

Part Two

Part Three