#smps src

Dear Gus,

Laura and Dan gave a presentation to a packed house at the conference this morning. Derek and Jamie rode back to Little Rock with me.

Dad

Dear Gus,

Opening night of the conference, where I’m supposed to be networking, but I ended up hanging out with Garver folks. Lucia and John are from the Georgetown office, though, so this feels like networking. 

Dad

Dear Gus,

I’m glad Jamie came with me this year. It’s interesting to introduce someone from my everyday world to the world I’ve only entered into once a year for the past three years. 

There are a lot of reasons I joined the military, but one of them was that because I grew up in a small town, in a family that had been around for multiple generations, I felt like my reputation had been decided for me before I was born. People knew I was the son of David & Carla, the grandson of Sid & Elizabeth, and Donald & Alice Marie. Joining the Army gave me a chance to go make a name for myself. No one I met knew my parents or grandparents. I had to convince them of who I was strictly based on my actions from that point forward. I love meeting strangers because I love to prove myself, over and over. If I’m really digging deep, I should probably say that same feeling motivated me to attempt the walk across the country. It’s the same thing when you go to a conference, or a party, or when you enter any other room where you don’t know a soul. 

There’s no reason to be afraid just because you don’t know anyone and they don’t know you. In fact, that’s the reason you shouldn’t be afraid--they have no idea who you are. Show them that you’re a good person who’s quick to laugh. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. There’s a book in our regular rotation now (that I think Nene got you) that says despite different languages or different religions, people feel pain the same, and they laugh the same, all over the world. Remember that, and you’ll be able to make friends wherever you are, no matter how big the room is, and no matter how many strangers fill it.

Dad

Dear Gus,

My buddy Chad lives in Houston, so I sneaked him into the conference welcome reception tonight. (He is also not a member of SMPS.) Then we went to dinner and caught up and I ate the best steak I’ve had since March 6, 2015, I think. 

Dad

Dear child(ren),

I’m at a marketing conference for the rest of the week and after I checked into my hotel, I realized I forgot to grab my hang-up clothes before I left the house this morning. Luckily, my hotel was attached to a mall. 

I worked at Banana Republic in college and I shared the size-measurements of the mannequins, so I knew if something looked good on them, it would probably look good on me, too. I wouldn’t even have to try on the clothes. Unfortunately, those days are gone--the mannequins must be shrinking--and shopping isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be.

Dad.

Conference Lunch Buffet. Royal Sonesta Hotel (Catering). New Orleans, Louisiana. 1.19.2023.

NOTE TO SELF: That's a sorry excuse for a wedge salad. The salmon wasn't bad, but the steamed vegetables had clearly started to turn before they made it into the sauna. The stems of the brocoli were turning in on the ends, and one bite I had was hard and stringy and inedible -- I spit it out and put it on my plate. The dessert had been sitting out to long. Standard conference dessert.

Dear Gus & Magnus,

Aunt Laura presented a session on corporate giving programs at the conference today, so I sat in on that in between my conference duties.

After the conference wrapped up, I drove home and said goodnight to you two right before bed. I missed you both (and Mom) a whole, whole, whole, whole bunch.

Dad.

Breakfast Buffet (SMPS SRC). Sheraton Hotel Catering. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1.28.2022.

NOTE TO SELF: Quiche was weird because there was the layer of egg and then there was a layer of toppings, for lack of a better word. Same batch of yesterday's plastic fruit.