Today is Sunday, the 21st of February, 2016. I am writing this post in a Starbucks across from our hotel on Sutter Street in San Francisco. My wife, Sarah, and I are here just for the weekend. That wouldn't be so unusual except for the fact that our home is across the country on the east coast.
Three weeks ago our daughter, who lives in San Francisco, kiddingly asked in a group family text if anyone wanted to attend a pop-up wedding event at the SF City Club on February 19th, this past Friday. She is getting married in June and her reception will be there. The moment I saw her text, something tugged at me. Tugged at my heart. I had an urge to immediately text back “Absolutely! We’ll be there!” Trust me, she would have been shocked. And thrilled! But I didn’t respond right away. I gave it twenty-four hours before I shared with Sarah that I felt strongly we should go. She was just as certain. She got our flight and made hotel reservations later that day. We couldn't wait for this whirlwind trip just three weeks away. Fly out early on Friday, attend the event that evening, chill with our daughter and future son-in-law Saturday and Sunday, and fly back early Monday morning. Not a leisure travel schedule I would normally choose, but one that I had absolutely no doubt about in this moment. It was spontaneous and it felt right. Totally right.
We arrived in San Francisco around noon on Friday. Plenty of time to settle in. We caught up with our daughter and eventually headed over to the City Club to meet up with her fiancé. The evening event was awesome, leaving us super excited about the upcoming wedding. The next morning we all went to breakfast to fuel up for a day of open houses. That's when this story became a Be Yourself Blog post. That's when the picture was completed for why we were so "compelled," "motivated," "nudged," "inspired," "directed," to come to San Francisco this weekend. We thought it was for the pop-up wedding event. Which it was, of course. But there was far more at play here than attending this event. Far more than any of us consciously knew or imagined. Looking back now, our intuition was keenly tuned, guided, ours and our daughter's, from the time she sent that text weeks ago, to this very moment.
Last night, just one day after the event, our daughter was in an operating room having emergency surgery. She became seriously ill yesterday morning while we waited for our breakfast, and we spent all day at the hospital. They had to pull together an emergency surgical team that converged on UCSF late last night. They were awesome. From the staff in the emergency department, to the docs and the lone nurse in recovery with thirty-six years of experience who exuded compassion and confidence at 2:00am while our daughter recovered from the procedure and anesthesia. We can't say enough about the level of care. Our daughter is home now, up and about this morning, smiling, happy to be on the mend, and so grateful we were there to help and support her and her fiancé through her ordeal.
Recalling our daughter's text three weeks ago, I knew at the time that my intuition was in overdrive. Not an ounce of doubt that we should come out here for this weekend. I just didn't have the complete picture painted as to why. As we sat at breakfast yesterday, seeing our daughter's physical pain and distress and her fiancé's concern, that inner voice clearly told me we were headed to the hospital. As clearly as the intuitive message we received three weeks ago about saying "Yes!" About needing to be right here, right now.
Now, a day later, sitting in this Starbucks putting the final touches on this post, I hear a "clink" as a gentleman walks past and behind me. I turn to my left to see a shiny object dancing on the floor where he'd been. He moves on, oblivious, to get in line. I get up to investigate. It is a shiny new quarter. I pick it up, listen to my heart, and walk up to the fellow now standing in line. "Here," I say, "this hit the floor as you walked by," and hand him the coin. He looks up and beams a smile, "Well! I guess this is my lucky day!" Yes it is. And mine too. Not an ounce of doubt he will reach in his pocket later today, feel that quarter, and smile, thinking "something good's going to happen today." No doubt in his mind it will. And no doubt in mine.