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Good fortune

As good as life can be, there are those moments when the goddess of good fortune openly smiles upon us and recently she smiled brightly upon me.

I had the good fortune to participate in a conference concerning equal employment opportunities for all the people in this state, and I was a participant in a panel presentation. Our panel topic was how things are changing in our state and what these changes mean to us. The people attending the conference were a very diverse group and our panel consisted of folks with a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and stories.

The panel’s cultural makeup included Karen, Mexican, Native American, Hmong and people with German, Norwegian, Swedish, Irish and English ancestry. Each person brought her or his story to the table — sometimes in a painful telling and other times, in a jovial recitation. Some on the panel told the story of their journey to this state, the challenges they face and the opportunities they believe are before them. Others told stories of how people work best together when given the chance to do so. All of their stories were filled with persistence, hope, pain and strength.

The panel had met once before the conference to become a bit acquainted and at the conference, I noticed something very interesting as we talked, laughed, walked and ate together. As much as we were different, we were the same.

After the powerful and uplifting panel discussion and while driving back home, I began to think of other people I’ve had the pleasure to meet, about their stories and how, although these people are different, their stories are so similar.

For instance…

There’s a young man who’s just opened a small business in Marshall. His store features freshly roasted coffee beans, dried fruits, delicious chocolates and nuts. When you enter his store, the smell of roasting coffee beans warms you like a quilt in January. It’s been my good fortune to meet him, talk with him and get to know him. Along with his desire to be in the retail business, he’s also a budding vintner. We’ve talked about his dream to grow grapes and make Minnesota-grown wines. I look forward to many talks with this fine young man and anticipate walking through his vineyard and picking grapes with him one day.

Then there’s the young lady from Buffalo who decided to start a winery. Her story includes a total change of lifestyle and the courage to reach out for and fulfill a dream. Because she’s not afraid of a challenge, she is working hard to realize her story and with the support of her family and friends, it’s becoming a reality. I’ll have the good fortune to sample one of her new wines next month.

Then there’s the young man from Kenya. He sat down beside me at one of the conference’s sessions and we had a good time chatting. He had a heavy accent (I expect he thought the same of my Minnesoootan accent!) but we laughed over our linguistic miscues and I hope to have the good fortune to talk with him again.

Stories — they are the threads of life that bind us together. But now back to my friends on the panel.

We went out for dinner and ended up in a place called The Tap House, which advertises having over 50 craft beers on tap. That sounded interesting and we soon found ourselves sitting in a corner booth looking over the menu. The variety of drinks ordered ranged from water, to diet Coke, to beers, to wines and one person just had to have a What She’s Having cocktail (vodka, St. Germain liqueur, champagne and some lime.).

The dinner was a fun time, and the banter around the table was light and laugh filled. I believe we were fortunate to be there together and building new friendships over glasses of wine, cola, beer, water and of course, the cocktail.

I am a lucky man. Despite all my mess ups, the goddess of good fortune continues to smile on me.

Next week, “Gentlemen, start your engines!”

As always, eat and drink in moderation but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!

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