7th Anniversary in Rearview

I won't lie and say that seven years of marriage isn't hard. It is. It's like entering your 40s. You know each other well, but you also realize that certain things are the way they are and that's just it. They aren't going to change. You both have feelings like this about the other person. But, you are also solid on what brought you together and why you stay. Best of all, if you stick around, your joint adventures continue. Life is the silent companion in marriage. Maybe some of you think of it as that third wheel. However you describe its uncertainties, life ensures that you never know when the unexpected will strike!

We had a joint "unexpected" recently at a live auction fundraiser for our daughter's school. I wanted to share the adventure because we were in it together and it shows how much we believe in our daughter's school.



For more than 10 years we have been volunteer prep cooks and servers of gourmet Tuscan dinners two of our friends (the head chefs) offer as charity fundraisers. This year, we offered to underwrite a Tuscan dinner of our own to the community at the school. No one had any frame of reference for the dinners so I carefully crafted introductory marketing through visuals and sound (the chefs and cooks sing to entertain) of what the dinners were like.

We worked hard to make sure the event was included as a live auction item and I hoped secretly for a winning buyer--any buyer at any price. Tuscan dinners are10-course meals for 8 or 10 specially invited guests. They last for hours and involve a deep Foodie experience. We leave no sense untouched--part of the experience includes singing at the meal's end and all the food is made from organic, local ingredients and hand-crafted with care.  A lot of kitchen volunteer help is involved, along with a huge organization chart on the wall of tasks and times when certain things must happen to keep the guests happy and filled with food, wine, ambiance, company and merrymaking.

As the underwriters of the dinner for everything except the lovely home where the dinner takes place, I expected to sell the dinner at a loss. Instead, two people stood up during the bidding and offered their houses for the dinner for $3K. So not only did we sell 1 dinner for $1300, we sold a second one for $3K. Wow! Just...wow.

What has happened in your life that puts the "fun" in "fundraising?"