About fourteen months ago, my manager Kristi made me put a date on the calendar to start this blog. For some reason or another I just did not want to start it. I was afraid that I would run out of things to say and I wanted to focus on getting the right tone out there. So, I wrote ten or so blog posts before I posted a single one.

The week I officially launched my blog, I got some incredible news. On Monday, July 19th, my mom called and wanted to talk to both my dad and me; I never heard her so frantic. She is usually calm, but that day she was in shock. When my father got home a couple of hours later, we returned her call together. Long story short, my mom told us that she had won the mega millions lottery. I was shocked. It changed many lives, including family members. It allowed me to move into my new house and it allowed my sister Sanaz to finally be spoiled after she had worked since the age of sixteen. My mom has retired and, as I am writing this, she is on the way to Pilates. I can also tell you…I am happy.

Back to the blog…

For whatever reason, I didn’t put off starting the blog and thank goodness I did not. Writing the blog has been a really good experience because as you can imagine, I had – and still have – a lot to deal with, and this blog helps me sort out my emotions while hopefully giving you advice and making you laugh. My favorite moments in this blog were when I had an idea for one post and it turned into a series or  a chapter for my book.

Before the windfall, my parents had a line of equity on their house in order for me to start a company, and that line was slowly drying out. I was afraid of the moment when I would have had to give up on my dreams of ever owning a house, ever having enough to offer a woman, and so on. That day gave me a new life and for that I am grateful.

With that being said, I had trouble jumping into work with everything I had. I decided that I needed time to breathe. One of the main lifelines to my work was this blog. I am still taking a break from getting back into my work full-time, which I wrote about a week ago. I’m happy to have this blog so I can stay connected to my work and my passion.

It’s been a fun year and I am looking forward to another great one.

Timelapse - Lighthouse (Oct 2012) from IMK Digital Multimedia on Vimeo.