Ten years ago, in April of 2007 my daughter was born.
I thought I had everything.
A successful business.
2 homes. New cars. Cool stuff.
I traveled the world.
I was in love with a beautiful woman.
And the perfect little girl was born INTO MY HANDS.
We had a natural child-birth.
It was a water birth.
My little girl was born UNDERWATER.
And I delivered her all by myself.
(The midwife was stuck in traffic, so she coached me through the process on the phone.)
By 2008 I felt like I was losing everything.
My business was in trouble.
I sued a business partner for “screwing me”.
I was going into significant debt.
I lost one of my homes.
I had to lock my car in my garage, or in other creative ways “hide” it from the repo-guys.
The woman I was in love with, was unhappy.
I felt like I was caught in a whirlpool, that was flushing everything I’d build down the toilet.
In 2009 my daughters mom left me.
(Probably for a lot of good reasons.)
I was filing a $2.2 million dollar bankruptcy.
I was hiding for debt collectors.
I was hiding from my friends – because I didn’t want everyone to know what was going on.
I was without a place to live.
(This is called “homeless” and I stayed with several different friends who loved me enough to take care of me.)
I gave away my dog.
I WAS LOST.
But I still had my 2-year-old little angel.
I still knew that this wasn’t the end.
I still knew I could turn it around.
And, I wasn’t as unhappy as you might think.
I smiled a lot.
(And when I cried, I typically did it in private.)
I met my wife-to-be in 2009.
She met me when I was pretty raw.
I wouldn’t say I was at my best, or that I was anybody’s definition of a “catch”.
I had “baggage”.
And I also had faith.
I knew in my heart, that my circumstances were temporary.
The woman that I dreamed about, that I’d described in my journal had arrived.
And she accepted me as I was, and as I am:
Flawed.
Imperfect.
Bankrupt.
Lost.
But she saw who I was.
She fell in love with my insanity.
She fell in love with my daughter.
She believed in me when I found it hard to believe in myself.
I remember when I first met my wife, I was spending some time with a friend of mine, who is a very successful business man, and a multimillionaire, and I said to him,
“You know what the best thing is about being bankrupt?”
(By the way, he couldn’t believe that he heard those words come out of my mouth.)
I told him that it was that I felt like I could TRUST that the woman I was falling in love with could love me for “ME”, and not for my “SUCCESS” or my “STUFF”.
I ate a lot of humble pie during that time.
I called in a lot of favors.
I asked for a lot of help.
I talked to my 4-year-old daughter, about marrying “Robs”.
She thought it was a great idea.
She kept the secret.
I had to borrow money for a wedding ring.
(Worth it.)
I asked Robyn’s father for his blessing.
He said he wasn’t sure he would give me permission to marry her.
I said I wasn’t asking for “permission” only his “blessing”.
He laughed and gave it easily.
(The trickster.)
On 11-11-11 my bride became, Robyn Harris Crane.
My 4-year-old daughter, Phoenix Rose Crane, was our flower girl.
30 days later I turned 40.
I WAS FOUND.
Today, I feel like I have everything again.
My wife is SUPER HOT and SUPER SUCCESSFUL.
My 9-year-old daughter is a 9-time bestselling author, and the most giving, creative and caring person I’ve ever met.
My business and my clients are awesome.
I’ve created new patterns and habits that serve me much more than ones I’ve had on the past.
I’ve exercised every single day for over 2000 days now.
I have great mentors.
I’ve always had GREAT FRIENDS, and I have more today than ever.
I have 10 bestselling books.
I help people more today, than I’ve ever been able to in the past.
I’m grateful every day.
My daughter will turn 10 soon.
My wife will celebrate a BIG birthday soon. (I won’t say the number 40 – that would be wrong to talk about.)
We are planning to grow our family THIS YEAR.
Life is good.
I look forward to what the next 10 years will bring.
