Attitude is Everything.

July 2nd 2019 Portland Oregon, Waterfront Blues Festival

This was about to be the debut of our handmade Boho Boot, our feather earrings, and our hatband bar.

For those of you who have not been to the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, it is the biggest blues event West of the Mississippi. The bands are diverse, the location is beautiful with views of the waterfront and rolling green grass noles. 4 stages, vendors, an outdoor wooden dance floor with designated zydeco bands playing throughout the days. An estimated 100,000 people attend over 4 days.

We were excited, nervous, and exhausted before we even arrived. We had spent the previous two weeks working non-stop preparing all the displays we would be using to merchandise in this new display. At this point, Jill and I had set this new wooden structure up one time, in a flat open area without any time limit and we had never set up the new displays and the structure as a finished concept.

We pull in and the area we are designated to set up on was on a slope, a big slope. It was over a 6'' difference from front to back and both of our neighbors were already set up giving us 1'' of extra room from left to right. WTF

My best self did not show up that day. I was tired, hungry, late, and rushed. I aged 1 year in 1 day. We worked non-stop, under very stressful conditions, setting up until after 10 pm. I had to dig down deep not to quit. Jill had to dig down deep not to slap me and then quit.

Looking back I learned two very important lessons that day,
1: There is no such thing as being over-prepared in life and
2: I have the ability to make a situation better or worse just with my attitude.

There were so many things at that moment I could not control, but I can always control my reactions to those things, not just for myself but for the comfort of those around me.