Years ago, I was away from home at a meeting. It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of meetings, this one lasted for days.
It was a big denominational meeting.
There was serious denominational work to be done.
The organizers of our organization split up the meeting, they had one meeting on the west coast and one on the east coast. I was an east coast boy.
There was intense restructuring going on and we spent hours looking at flowcharts and discussing organizational culture. At the time I was a district youth director so I was cordially invited…weeee!!
The meeting consisted of almost all men. There were two ladies, my boss and the event planner.
There were a lot of older men with more impressive titles and much more experience than me.
As I sat in the back of the meeting space, trying hard to not say anything stupid, I began to realize that changes were coming.
I could sense that it wouldn’t be long before the restructuring was going to affect me…
WHAT?!!
I was doing the job that I had dreamed of since I was twelve.
I got the feeling that was about to change.
After dropping the dream bomb, they casually announced we were going to take a break.
We had all worked really hard and it was stressful wrestling with all this…
yeah, thanks man.
They informed us that we were going to have a “fun night”.
I needed some fun, so I tried to just shake things off.
Fun night…
We heard rumors that the west coast guys went to a Dodgers game the week before, so we were expecting big things.
There was a minor league hockey team in town. They were playing that night!
PERFECT!!!
Did I mention that this meeting consisted of almost all men?
It was a perfect hockey crowd! A bunch of dudes who had been cooped up in meetings for two days!! We needed to blow off some steam!!
The event planner came into the meeting room as we were about to dismiss for the day.
She excitedly announced that she had something special planned for the evening…
In the conference center where we were staying, a regional theater group was performing the broadway show, Annie.
We all had tickets…
WHAT?!!
Did I mention that this meeting consisted of almost all dudes? Mostly old dudes?
It wasn’t really a musical crowd.
My boss didn’t even go, she stayed in her room and ironed clothes.
We were disgusted…but, we were also bored, so we stuck around.
Something happened.
In the midst of dreams being restructured, I found some hope.
I wasn’t the only one. I looked around the room and cynicism was being replaced by wonder.
I saw it on the faces of men who had heard and seen it all.
We were captured by the story of a plucky little orphan.
By the end, MOST of us were singing along.
At one awkward point, I even tried to hold hands with my friend, Jim Cooper. He quickly let me know that was NOT okay.
Life is crazy, just when you have everything figured out and you are living the dream, everything changes.
Sometimes, when you want hockey you get Hannigan.
It’s a hard knock life, it is full of twists.
Sometimes you can get restructured right out of things.
‘Stead of treated,
You get tricked.
Maybe you need a new song and story.
Sometimes, when you want hockey you get Hannigan.
Go with it.
You are probably going to have more fun than you think.
What do you do when Life gives you Miss Hannigan Again and Again?
You learn to sing along.
Because…the sun will come out tomorrow.
Bet your bottom dollar.
carbonated joy 