Cruz Diary: Entry Two (continued)

My wife thought I was crazy making those phone calls. I called about fifty of our closest friends and family who lived in the nearby area. I was unable to tell the reason to meet us at Comcast headquarters in Oak Brook, but had to convince them to be there. I explained that they needed to be there for us if we ever meant anything to them.

It was difficult to convince some. My wife sat there by my side while I was making these calls. She kept commenting that she could not believe the way I persuaded each person and that if she was the recipient of one of those calls, she would have known I was nuts and probably not shown up (especially, if it meant leaving work early or taking my child out of school early). I even called the mother of my son's friend.

So, since my son had told Sadie all about the house, and she is one of his closest school friends, he had to have her there with him. So, I spoke with her Mom and convinced her (against her husband’s wishes) to trust me and bring Sadie out to Oak Brook.

My poor sister kept calling back because it was really difficult for her to leave work early to come out for something that she could not explain to her boss. She had taken off quite a bit of time from work already during the last few days for our friend’s funeral, and she lives in Wisconsin. So, taking time off without an explanation could have cost her job.

After completing all of the calls and giving out the best instruction that we could to so many of our friends and family members, we left our house and drove straight to the Comcast building. We were early, but wanted to be there before any of our friends or family had arrived. We were lucky, too, because traffic wasn’t bad yet. I am glad that we did because our group began arriving early, too. My wife was so amazed because every one of those fifty family members and friends that I had called showed up at the Viewing Party.

Finally, the time to tell our family arrived. Our family was in shock at first when the announcement was made. Right after, they saw it on The Insider on the large televisions in the Comcast Conference Room. Our family was so excited and happy for us! We were so glad that they were all here to share in our wonderful news. Then, we were surprised by Comcast. In addition to all of the wonderful gifts from HGTV, GMC, LendingTree.com and the other sponsors, Comcast surprised us with tons of gifts to take home that day.

We received a Digital TV, computer with flat panel monitor, a year of high-speed internet service and On Demand Cable service, a PlayStation 2, DVD player, loads of jackets, hats, pens, notebooks, water bottles and bags, plus snacks to enjoy while viewing the cable movies! Our van was stuffed with all of these goodies, flowers and balloons, too!

During all of my interviews, I was sure to plug my intent on using the home as a Bed & Breakfast and to give tours. Since this was our best chance at being able to live in this beautiful home, there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to begin discussing it.

When all was finished that night, we were tired. We had gone to a nearby restaurant with some friends to toast our good fortune. My son was so worn from his day, he fell asleep at the restaurant. So, we got him to bed late that night and hoped that he would do well in school the next day. My wife was exhausted, too, but too excited to fall asleep right away. We said a prayer and thanked God for our good fortune.