It’s probably somewhat fitting that I should be writing my five hundredth post in this blog right after a wonderful weekend celebrating another milestone — Elizabeth’s and my tenth wedding anniversary.
You see, what made it a fantastic weekend wasn’t just the ten years of wonderful memories with the woman I love. Of course, that was important. What made it especially memorable, though, was the efforts our friends and families went through to make it so special.
Elizabeth’s sister, JoAnn, flew up from Austin to cook the food and prepare the house and, most importantly, take care of our children over the weekend. My mom baked cake and cupcakes for the party on Saturday. Casey acted as go-getter and quality control on all the efforts. Tim and Kim went the extra mile by completely spoiling us. They gave us a magical box with ten numbered envelopes, each to be opened at a specific time over the weekend. The instructions from these notes told us how to prepare and where to go, including two nights in a local bed and breakfast and a special dinner at our favorite downtown restaurant.
Of course, all of the activities were wonderful, but after “I love you”, do you know what the most common phrase was when Elizabeth and I were talking?
“We have truly amazing friends.”
And that’s where we have the tie-in with networking, I guess. You see, ten years is a wonderful milepost, but without our friends to share it with, we probably wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun.
In a way, five hundred blog posts is a pretty good milepost, too. It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun, though, without you to share it with. Thank you for being here all this time and I hope you will stick around for another five hundred.
So what mileposts can you share with your network?
Photo by Kimber
I am so happy to both of you, but not as happy as I am for all of us. What a wonderful addition to our family Lisa has been along with her Texas family. And I love getting together with all the Ann Arbor crowd. They make me feel young when I am around them. I hope I am around for at least 4 more decades of your milestones.
Congratulations to you and Elizabeth! I like how you brought up networking into the discussion. Networking helps a lot in a business, more so in its opening stages. A network of referrals builds upon itself over time, right? With an extensive network, you'll never run of potential customers. Though it's not always a walk in the park, as you have to build up on it first before you reap its rewards. Thanks for sharing!
Hector Torres @ BNI London
Thanks for your comment, Hector, and for your congratulations. For those of use who practice it, you can't help but notice the parallels between developing good networking relationships and good personal relationships, right? In fact, more often than not, those lines can blur to where our professional circles can yield great friendships and our friendships can yield great business.