The New Tuscan Hill, Part 1: Time
So far, in my experience, waiting doesn’t exactly get easier. It becomes more fruitful, yes. But easier? No. We can so clearly see what we want that sometimes we think we can reach out and there it is--we have it. But this isn’t a story of hopes and dreams being dashed by “reality”; this is a story of hopes and dreams enduring time. A lot of people give up when there’s a promise followed by a long wait. Many people believe that the “wait” itself is a closed door, an answer of “try something else.” But we are not those people. And that is not this story.
The New Tuscan Hill, Part 2: Women
The gate was open today. And while I was here alone, the doorbell rang. I figured there was a company here to do maintenance, so I cracked the door open and began to deduce what the man standing on my porch needed. Once he began speaking I realized he was soliciting a service. He asked if the “man of the house” was here and I told him, no, he is not. He asked when the “man” would be back, and I made up some time, some name and gave him our business phone number. When I shut the door what resounded in my head was that for eight years women have run this property.
The New Tuscan Hill, Part 3: Together
And it took me a long time--years--to let a very small group of people come around me and actually begin to pull me out of the metaphorical “home” I’d made to better myself in. The resounding concept was “you are done there.” But not just that, it was an exclamation…”look what you’ve become!” Their eyes stared at me in astonishment but I couldn’t accept it, I wouldn’t accept it, and I tried to crawl back in to “grow more.” But it turns out that you do, eventually, outgrow the cocoon. And once you’ve outgrown it, you must move on. You must BE the thing that you were cocooned to become.
The New Tuscan Hill, Part 4: Rebirth
And just like that, we realized it. We had put so many plans together for other people to carry the torch forward, so many possibilities--never-ending, ever-expanding--possibilities. We could see so many ways, so many avenues for others to achieve success at Tuscan Hill. After all of our preparing and seeking, and failure after failure of trying to make it work with so many candidates who crossed our path, it was with fire I realized that the answer wasn’t missing because we hadn’t done enough; the answer was missing because we had become enough.
Bekah & Gilad, A Wedding Story
How do you bring 100 people from all over the country to Miami, get them onto a yacht, take them out into Dumfoundling Bay in Sunny Isles Beach, FL, arrange to take a helicopter ride with the love of your life, with photographer in tow, land on a helipad and propose to her with guests quietly observing from the yacht off in the distance, and catch her completely off-guard? Gilad managed to do just that. He created an engagement surprise completely in keeping with the class, elegance and sophistication of this dream romance!
