[ added by Forever Groom]:

Hey, this was supposed to have been posted October 21st!  Sorry about that..

—

Today was an interesting day for sure. I woke to my radio alarm clock which is always dialed in to Energy 101.5 FM and I was sure happy to learn that today’s article in the Herald had reached an audience! The station was receiving calls from listeners asking about this “Forever Groom” person.. I was off to a great day!

And a great day it was. I spent about an hour at Marlborough Mall in the afternoon with a friend and a small stack of the “Support Forever Groom” cards I had made up for the contest. The goal for the hour was to split up and hand out the cards to people in the mall and meet back at the food court when we were done.

To do this I needed a plan. My plan was to introduce myself to people and tell them a little bit about my story. I was to explain what the cards were all about and that I needed them to visit my site to find out more and could they please leave a comment or two in the Guestbook while they were there.

Just as I was about to start out I recieved a phone call from a friend.

“It’s done. All 750 flyers have been given out – all up and down Stephen Avenue.” she said.

I was a bit confused.

“What flyers?” I asked.  “Where did you get them?”  I didn’t know what she was talking about.

She told me that this morning she had made up 750 flyers in support of my cause. She then went downtown to Stephen Avenue with a friend of hers and they handed out every single flyer.

That was such a welcomed surprise! ..Having someone take the initiative like that on your behalf.. I didn’t know what to say.

“Thank you!” I said. “That’s awesome! Let me know what it’s cost you and I’ll pay you back.”

“No, that’s ok. Don’t worry about it.” She said.

We exchanged our good-bye’s and see-you-later’s and I proceeded to put my phone back in my jacket pocket.

I continued on down the busy mall with a comfortable smile and began searching for someone I felt I could connect with and tell my story to.  How well would I be received?  What kind of looks would I get? I started thinking how crazy it was that I was in a shopping mall with a handful of cards in search of support from people I had never even met. How was I going to do this?

To my surprise I found that people were quite receptive to me and my story. The initial approach was the toughest part. I could see that as they saw me coming toward them they started to wonder what I was going to ask for.

Their defenses rose slightly as I neared the end of my approach to them, but not enough to say they had no interest.

Each person was different. I tried different ways to start the conversations while I manifested the cards in front of me and jestured for them to take a look. They would glance at the card quickly at first, and then usually lean foward a little to get a better look.

I would continue with my story and explain that I’m hoping to woo the woman I love away from a pre-arranged marriage to a total stranger that’s scheduled to happen in only 9 days. It was always at this point where they would then consider me somewhat a friend and would become filled with questions – and opinions too.

One particular girl took quite a stance on the subject saying that she was 35 years old and was considering dumping her boyfriend of 2 years because he hadn’t yet proposed.

“And she kept you around for FIVE years?!”  She said, somewhat scolding me.

“Yeah, well we had our circumstances you know..” I stated, already knowing she would not approve of my answer.

She suddenly decided use my situaton as an example in her own battles.

“I’m going to give this card to my boyfriend!” she said, and proceeded to take the card from my hand.

“And as for you!  It’s too late my friend.  You’re all out of chances!” she said to me.

I accepted her answer as being fairly reasonable and took one last shot at my defense.

“Well, actually.. no.. there’s still time.  It’s not over yet.” I solemly uttered, trying to gather my strengths again and keep my spirits up.  She changed her tune a little after that.. and gave me a smile to somehow say that she hoped I would succeed in my endeavor.

I thanked her very much for her time and as I began to leave the store I told her I hoped she would still visit the website and post her thoughts.

“Yeah well maybe this time you won’t wait FIVE YEARS will you!” She said in a humorous tone.

I smiled back and thought “It’s nice to know who your friends are.”

– Forever Groom

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Craig's Daily Blog . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.