Yesterday, I started my day around 4 AM. I couldn’t sleep, and I was wanting to work on some deliverables for my current project in Minneapolis. I met one of my coworkers for breakfast at Hell’s Kitchen (not the one on TV), and then we headed out to the client site. We had a busy day of meetings. Any gap in between meetings was spent documenting the previous meeting or preparing for the next. It was close to 4 PM when we got back to the hotel. I had another few hours of work to knock out, but I was starving. I hadn’t eaten since the 7:30 AM breakfast. I sat down at the bar of Manny’s. Unbeknownst to me on the way to the seat that I chose at the bar, I passed by a CEO of a major company and a Las Vegas stripper. They did not know each other. Not yet.
I ordered something to eat, and then I dialed into my next conference call. During the call, I couldn’t hear the conversations of the rest of the bar patrons, but I did notice that they were all with drink in hand, and it wasn’t 5 yet. I was midway through my call, when the CEO, which I didn’t yet know, ordered up a bottle of champagne and treated the stripper, another woman at the bar and myself to a glass. I wasn’t up for a drink; I was headed to my company’s office as soon as I could finish eating, but it was seriously good champagne.
When my conference call ended, I apologized to the crowd for being on the phone, and they didn’t mind at all. We introduced ourselves, and the CEO and I discovered that we both knew a great deal about each others industries. Moreover, he is a past recipient of a prestigious award that my company gives out. He is a loving husband and the father of four girls. He was also once in a semi-famous rock band that opened for other major bands. I can’t remember the last time that I met a more impressive individual.
While we were talking, a man from Canada, around forty years of age sat down with us. He had been with clients at the Twins game that afternoon. The Twins won, and he was pumped up about it. He is a business man, the owner of some major hotels across the country. We all talked about where we are from, our kids, and how much we appreciate our lives. The night was very young when we parted ways agreeing to meet later in the evening at the bar on the 27th floor of the hotel that we were all staying at.
I headed to the office, the man from Canada headed to a client dinner, the stripper went to go meet her boyfriend, and the very intriguing CEO/rock star/husband/father headed to his room to get ready. I got my work done at the office, and then I headed up to the bar on the 27th floor. By now it was around 8:30 pm, and I had met a small business consultant who was a Minneapolis local and his friend from Oregon, who is a dabbling comedian, along the way to the bar on the 27th floor. The pair would accompany up to the 27th floor bar.
While I was at the office knocking out a few deliverables for my project, and the Canadian was at his client dinner getting a little drunker, and the Minneapolis local and his buddy were trying to decide what they were going to do with their evening, the intriguing CEO was making his transformation. Into the beautiful woman that he is.
One would think that five random strangers would be cordial and reserved amongst one another. One might think that men would be uncomfortable around a transgender stranger. One would be dead wrong. We would all arrive as planned, minus the stripper. What an amazing night. We bar hopped around downtown Minneapolis, stopping to talk to everyone that we happened upon, making more friends along the way. We laughed; we toasted; we talked about our fears, our insecurities, our successes, and our hopes. We talked about not being afraid to be who we really are. The Minneapolis local said it best, “This is one of the best nights of my life!”
I hear a great deal about how much better life was “back then”. In many ways, I agree. I myself miss life before text messaging and social media. However, there are plenty of things in the world that are in fact changing for the better. It is doubtful that a group of straight men from across the continent, a random blonde girl and a slightly older transgender man would have chosen to be bar buddies for an evening on the road ten years ago. It is no doubt that we were all inspired by our new friend.
Cheers to real conversations, real people and to not being afraid to be who we really are.