Today's blog is another memory I had of Nick. I have to blog about them because my memory is so fleeting, and the last thing I need is another brain injury knocking out what little memories I have left.. so I'm writing them down.
It was 2006. Tracy and I had already been working with James Arthur Ray for several months. This particular day, James was in town because friends had brought him to town for another free introduction. At this point in Nick's life, he had been arrested and straightening his life out. He was falling in love with physics. He was a senior in high school, and spiritually he was pretty open to all possibilities or at least the New Age Thought. He had watched The Secret and he had seen his parent's lives change. When I asked Nick if he wanted to go to the seminar, he was excited.
During the free seminar, Nick was hanging on James' every word. He was ecstatic. At the end of the seminar, he was absolutely shocked and excited that he would get to meet and shake hands with a millionaire. (I think some little part of him wanted that for his life.)
That night, Nick signed up for the weekend seminar in San Diego. I was going to be going and "Dream Teaming" for the event. It was an expensive seminar, and it was going to be an expensive trip, including staying in a 5 star hotel at the marina. It was certainly going to be the fanciest trip Nick had ever taken.
Nick was a senior in high school. He dressed in full on hippie gear. That year for back to school shopping, I had taken him shopping at Hait and Ashbury in San Fran. He had authentic hippie wear. He wore a rainbow rasta hat with his longish hair that was growing out. He played hackey sack and ran around barefooted every chance he got.
He and I boarded the plane and headed to San Diego. Nick was excited for what was coming. When we landed, we took a cab (which he had never done) to the hotel. He was shocked by the hotel we were staying in. We were sharing a room with one of our good friends Shawn. Nick had a roll away. Once we were settled, we went walking around the marina and shopping complex. We stopped and had dinner at a fancy sea food restaurant. As we ate and walked around, Nick told me, "Mom, this is so cool. I am so happy at the changes you and dad have made. Before you were always so worried about money and you would NEVER think about flying anywhere because it was too expensive. Much less, pay for a seminar like this or for a fancy hotel or eat a place like this."
It's not that Tracy and I were poor or had money problems. We didn't. We just had a horrible mindset about money. And the work with James helped with that, and Nick saw that. He appreciated it.
During the seminar, Nick was pretty much on his own. I was Dream Teaming (volunteering) so I was busy working the entire weekend. I was James' body guard for the weekend, so I had to stick close by him. There was not any time to just hang with my boy. But he always sat up front as much as he could, and since that is where I was always stationed, I got to watch him experience this event. I got to watch my 17 year old son hang out with all kinds of business people from all parts of the country. I got to see him hold some intense conversations. I got to watch him grow.
At one point during some kind of break, before we had opened the doors for participants to return to their seats, Nick was outside in the lobby playing hacky sack with a few people. Everyone loved Nick. Nick had the best energy. The hacky sack got stuck up in the rafters. We had to call maintenance. Yup, that's my son always causing a scene. *laugh* But everyone loved him. People kept coming up to me telling me how amazing he was and what a joy it was to sit at his table and get to now him and hear his thoughts.
In the end, years later, Nick thought James' teachings were bunch of phooey! And yes, lots of things changed with James over the years. But for that one weekend, Nick had an amazing eye opening experience which I am certain affected him in a positive manner. Nick may have never made it to millionaire status (but then again, I don't think that was his dream), but he left a huge impression on those who came into contact with him. He was rich beyond measure and left those of us who knew and loved him richer for knowing him.
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