My Encounter with Mr. Fancy Pants

Big Boss - Mr Fancy PantsOne night I was pondering the question about how to take my business and financial situation to the next level. I felt inspired to write a letter to my sub conscious since it seemed like it was my sub conscious mind that was blocking me from rising to a higher level of success. I explained my reasons for my vision as well as for wanting to get to the core issues, rather than just getting a slight bump. I sincerely wanted to know what was holding me back and how to get through it.

That night I had an interesting dream. I dreamt that a friend that I hadn’t seen since High School had come to visit with his father. We were going to go out to eat at an expensive restaurant. I believe it was Benihana’s. For some reason, they went ahead and had dinner first because I had to take care of some things. After they returned, I went by myself to this expensive restaurant. I only ordered a small amount and the total came to $40. I thought it seemed crazy that it was so expensive for such a small amount. In addition, I had to prepay for the meal. So, I paid for it and with my receipt in hand, I approached a man who sat people at their tables and made sure that the food was delivered.

To my surprise, this man refused to provide me with the food that I had paid for. I asked him why and he said something about it being a small amount. I told him that I thought it was actually expensive for what I had ordered. I also showed him my receipt that I had already paid for it. He said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”

I started to get angry at that point. I had paid for the food. I had the receipt and there was no reason why I shouldn’t get the food that I had paid for. I explained to him that it shouldn’t matter what the price was. I should get what I had paid for. After refusing me again, I yelled, “I want to speak to your manager. Where is he?”

He said, “Oh, Mr. Fancy Pants is up there” and he pointed to a little booth, that looked like a balcony. It was a section of the restaurant where you could look out and see everything going on in the restaurant. As I looked up there, I saw an old fat bald guy with a cigar in his mouth. He looked mean and if there ever was even an ounce of compassion in that man, from the looks of it, it would have been drained out decades previously. He reminded me of a professional poker player who was both willing and ready to drain me of every last penny in my pockets. On top of that, he was in a meeting with 2 other men. It looked like a very important meeting; the kind that you would definitely not want to interrupt. It looked serious!

Despite the seemingly bleak prospects of getting through to this man and the poor timing, I marched myself up there and started shouting at him. Waiving my receipt in the air, I demanded the food that I had paid for. He looked at me with a look of disgust and a gruff voice, “Excuse me, can’t you see that I am in a meeting right now?” Again, I repeated the fact that I had paid for the food, but was being refused the food I had paid for. At this point, this old mean man started to ignore me. He pretended that I wasn’t even there and kept on speaking to these 2 men that he was in the meeting with.

As I started to get angrier about the situation, I decided to take things up a notch and I wiggled my way into the booth and squished myself right in between the 2 men he was talking to. Since those 2 men were sitting side by side, it was a little awkward because I was practically sitting on their laps. Staring straight into Mr. Fancy Pants eyes, I again demanded the food I had paid for.

It started to become obvious that I was starting to annoy everyone at the table. The 2 men whose laps I was sitting on did not seem to appreciate it very much, but since they were trying to appease the boss, they didn’t say much.

However, I could tell that I was starting to get through to Mr. Fancy Pants. He was starting to get flustered and angrier at my insistence and was no longer able to ignore me as I was pretty much in his face at that point.

Again, I demanded the food that I had paid for. When I mentioned the $40, he was shocked and appalled and said, “Forty Dollars? That’s nothing. Most people spend $150 when they come here.” As I was about to go into my well rehearsed line of “Well, it shouldn’t matter how much was paid, I should get what I paid for”, this old mean man gets up and storms out of the room.

I was left at the table with the 2 other men. At this point the original man who had refused me the food in the first place walked up to the table and said, “You know, you really upset Mr. Fancy Pants. He actually is not the real owner of this restaurant. He just runs it. The real owner hardly ever comes here, but out of all the days you picked to come in here and rant, you picked the day when he came. He is here now and that’s why you upset Mr Fancy Pants so much. The real Mr. Fancy Pants is up there”, as he pointed to a door at the top of some steps.

businessman walkingAt this point, I was getting furious, and without one bit of hesitation, I started marching up those steps, throwing the door open, determined to get to the bottom of this issue and yelling at the top of my lungs, “Hey Mr. Fancy Pants, I did not get served!”

At this point, the dream world leaked into this world and I woke myself up because of my shouting. While it was crystal clear in my dream that I was shouting the phrase, “Hey Mr. Fancy Pants, I did not get served,” my wife woke up and asked if I was okay and then I started to explain how I was really upset with Mr. Fancy Pants. She laughed…. Then I asked her what I was actually saying and it was something like, “Rahhhhhr, bluh, bluh”

At the point of waking up, I also immediately became aware of the meaning behind the dream. As the person who was not getting the value of the service I had paid for, I was able to feel and experience what it was like to be on the receiving end of the person who was “not receiving”.

I related it to my business and how apathy, procrastination & not being focused have gotten in the way of delivering the best value in a timely way to each of my clients. It doesn’t matter the amount that was paid nor whether my interest level in the project is great or small. I have a duty to provide that value that the client paid for in the best possible way and in a timely manner.

And then it hit me! I was the real Mr. Fancy Pants. I was the one that this message was for and my subconscious delivered it in a profound way that helped me to understand that “If I want to have greater financial freedom, I need to become better at managing and appreciating each and every project that I have been entrusted with, regardless of what I think about its importance.”

I sincerely hope that we each can look at what we have been given and then fulfill it in the way that is the best. There are always some tasks that we enjoy more than others. Learning to love the tasks that are the least loveable is a powerful way to become better prepared to take on the greater ones!

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In the Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace Wattles, it states:

“YOU must use your thought as directed in previous chapters and begin to do what you can do where you are; and you must do ALL that you can do where you are.

You can advance only by being larger than your present place; and no man is larger than his present place who leaves undone any of the work pertaining to that place.

The world is advanced only by those who more than fill their present places.

If no man quite filled his present place, you can see that there must be a going backward in everything. Those who do not quite fill their present places are dead weight upon society, government, commerce, and industry; they must be carried along by others at a great expense. The progress of the world is retarded only by those who do not fill the places they are holding; they belong to a former age and a lower stage or plane of life, and their tendency is toward degeneration. No society could advance if every man was smaller than his place; social evolution is guided by the law of physical and mental evolution.

The Adoption of Jose

jose.jpgI have had many amazing dreams in my life, but one that kind of stands out is one I had back in 2003 where my wife and I had adopted a little Hispanic boy, named Jose, who was 2 or 3 years old at the time of adoption. That was pretty much all of the details I remembered from the dream. It was actually kind of strange because not once had we ever considered adoption, nor talked about it. We didn’t need to. Our kids seemed to come pretty regularly. First Rachel, then Jane, then Allison and then Wendy. But it was one of those kinds of dreams that left a strong impression, however, at the time, there was no way we could have considered it, so we dismissed the thought from our minds.

A year later, our situation had changed and I was working for another company and I heard that the company had an adoption program. When I found out, I remembered the dream and started thinking more about it. I told my sister and she said that I should check out Adoption.com. So, I did a search at this website looking for a “Jose” who was 2 or 3 years old. Surprisingly enough, there was one. I looked at the picture and showed my wife and asked her what she thought and if adopting this little boy was something that she would even consider. Well, she was open to the idea, so we started moving forward in that direction and figuring out what needed to be done. We found out that Jose was located in Guatemala and that the average cost would be around $24,000. We didn’t have that amount of money in the bank, so in reality, we just started down the path of adoption without really knowing how we were going to do it.

We had to get an assessment from a family counselor to show that we would be good parents for an adoptive child. Then, there were numerous forms and tests that needed to be done, which had to be submitted to the U.S. government. We had to have 3 different types of background checks, including ones on a local, state and federal levels. After we finally received the approval from the U.S. side, then we had to do more things to get the approval from the Guatemalan side. I think the total time was approximately 18 months, from start to finish, although we probably could have done things quicker.

In the beginning, I thought I would try and go directly to the orphanage. I figured I’d probably be able to shave off several thousand that way. The crazy thing is that I did manage to find the exact orphanage in Guatemala where Jose was at and the director was willing to deal directly with me. The problem, though, was that he wasn’t willing to assign the boy to us, until we had the approval from the U.S., which we were still working on. So, that “Jose” was reassigned to another family. We were really disappointed, but we proceeded forward and found out that there was another Jose in that same orphanage. It turns out, he was also 2 at the time. My wife and I looked at the picture and felt like we could adopt this other Jose. Well, time ticked on and we still didn’t have the U.S. approval. We did eventually get it, but, unfortunately, the other Jose had been reassigned as well. We didn’t know what to do. We asked about other children at the orphanage, but all of them were pretty much less than 1 year old. We wanted one that was a little older because we were expecting a baby (Wendy) at the time and we didn’t want 2 babies at the same time. So, we told the orphanage director that we would go with a one-year old named Edgar. We figured that maybe the “dream” was just to get us to adopt and perhaps the name and age didn’t really matter. We also figured that if this wasn’t the right boy, then something would happen to prevent that. Well, the next morning, we received an email from the director stating that “Edgar” was no longer available. He had some heart conditions and was going to need surgery.

At this point, we were dumbfounded and didn’t know what to do. However, the following morning, I received an email from a lady in Florida that I had contacted previously. She recommended that I check out a different website that had pictures of lots of Guatemalan children. I had not seen that website before, so I checked it out and immediately found 3 different boys that I felt like could be possibilities. The problem was that they were all with an adoption agency, Commonwealth Adoptions. The reason it was a problem was because it was going to cost $7000 more than going directly to the orphanage. But after getting the runaround with the orphanage director in Guatemala and also due to making a decision on one of the boys (whose name was Jose and was 2 1/2, we finally decided that we should do it anyway).

Going with the Adoption Agency was a smart move. They showed us everything we needed to do in the order it needed to be done. I couldn’t have asked for a better agency and Susana, the lady who helped us, was simply a pleasure to work with.

We know we were led to this particular boy. When his foster mother brought him to the hotel in Guatemala City, he came right to me and gave me a big hug. It was such a special moment. That night, in the hotel, I let him sleep in bed with me and he was so happy and kept giving me hugs. Tears streamed as I realized that God was using me to bless this little boy’s life with something that he didn’t have, a family. Every child deserves a family and the feeling I experienced in that moment was simply wonderful.

On Thanksgiving Day of 2005, I flew home with my newly adopted Jose. It seemed kind of symbolic that it was at Thanksgiving time. Jose was such a hug giver. He would literally hug every person he saw who was within reaching distance. So, everyone at the restaurants and airport all got hugs… It was pretty cute, but at the same time, it was kind of sad. He didn’t know who he belonged to. His birth mother had dropped him off at an orphanage at 9 months, then he was in at least 3 different sets of foster homes, including one where he really got very little to eat, mostly just formula. His teeth were in bad shape and we ended up having 6 of them pulled. We were waiting outside at the airport as my wife pulled up and Jose reached up for her while she was still driving. My 4 little girls were all very interested in their new little brother and were practicing “hola” over and over. Within 1/2 hour of Jose arriving at home, my girls had him all dressed up with purses, bracelets and necklaces. I had to explain that boys were a little different, but Jose didn’t seem to mind, he loved the attention.

A Visit From My Mother & Father

mom-and-dad.jpg

During the evening of August 27, I had a very special dream. Both of my parents had passed away previously within the past couple years. My dad passed away in August of ’05. He had Alzheimers and was in a rest home for about 5 years prior to that. His death was hard on my mom and about 6 months later, my mom got pneumonia, then got better, then got a stomach infection and passed away as well.

While I was sleeping my parents came to me in my dream. I need to clarify here that it was not a dream about my parents, it was a dream with my parents. For me, it was so real and first my dad appeared and if you were to know my dad, you’d know that he liked to joke around a lot. I had heard at one time that when people die, their hair and nails continue to grow. I don’t know how true this is, I had just heard
it. Anyway, when I saw my Dad, he had really long hair, probably down to his
waist. This was the craziest thing I had seen, especially since he was still
mostly bald on top. He looked like he had just stepped off the set of Pirates
of the
Caribbean… so the first words out of my mouth were “Dad, you
need to get a haircut”… I still don’t know for sure whether it was just my
imagination or whether my Dad thought he’d play a joke on me… I kind of suspect
the latter.

So, I was able to visit with him and then my mother came and I
visited with both of them together. We just talked. We hugged and although I
don’t remember all that was said, I do specifically remember them telling me
how much they loved me and how proud they were of me. They commented on aspects
of my life and how I had been progressing. But more than anything they said to
me, was the love that I felt when I was them in that dream. I woke up crying.
I knew that they had been watching over me and I know that they still are… The
feelings that I had were so real that it wouldn’t have been any more real if
they had been there in person. I was emotional that whole day. It was simply
amazing because afterwards, I kept telling myself “I didn’t know that Love
could feel so wonderful” Of course I knew I loved my parents, but the feeling I
felt was so overwhelmingly powerful that it made me wonder if this is how it
feels when we return home to our Heavenly Father. I feel so grateful to my
Heavenly Father that I was given this gift and it will always be something
special I remember the rest of my life. I feel like it helped me to understand
what love is all about…. and I know it was real. I know my parents visited me that night!

The Meaning of Dreams

dreams2.jpgWhile everyone dreams at night, some dreams are definitely more
meaningful than others. I have had a number of dreams that were
significant in some way, whether as dreams of comfort or even glimpses
into future events. While everyone’s dreams are different, I do believe that they are real in a way that perhaps we do not understand in our current reality. Sometimes dreams represent potential possibilities and sometimes they represent our fears and desires. Dreams are wonderful. They can reveal things about ourselves that perhaps we do not know. I’ll be sharing some dreams here in this blog and feel free to post your comments about what you think!