I had one of the coolest experiences in my life this past weekend. This week is my birthday, and my wife and brother signed me up for a community challenge that spanned over the downtown Dallas area and parts of uptown. It was essentially an "Amazing Race" on a much smaller scale, however more than 150 teams competed for $50 and a spot on the Super Dare to be held on a cruise ship near you. In any case we did not win, but we did come in 8th place which I believe to be a very impressive feat. In any case, one of the most intriguing parts to the challenge was that we could use everything at our disposal in the way of technology, friends and family, but the only thing we could not use was our own car or a taxi.
When my brother and I received out list of clues, we skimmed through to see what might be blatantly obvious. Quickly I surmised that blatantly obvious did not make the list, and turned to my iPhone for help while my brother called my wife who was at the ready with wifi at her disposal. I began to fear that we could spend the next two hours just trying to decipher the clues when we hit our first big break and we were on our way. Before we left I took a picture of the list and emailed to Molly so that she could continue knocking out the clues. We were searching for unique destinations and historical markers where we took pictures of ourselves in front of statues and plaques as well as completed an assortment of physical and mental challenges. All the while, we were getting text updates from Central Command (Molly) telling us of upcoming destinations and the most logical order to take them by.
I was swept away into my own little Intelligence tale, where we were racing against the clock and the enemy to capture our quarry. I was Jack Bauer, or Jason Bourne using my gadgets and colleagues to complete our mission. I guess at the end of the day I would love to be apart of something that really matters, and something that is so much bigger than me. I really enjoyed the urgency that I felt about making the right decisions, and going the right directions in order to stay ahead of the other teams. This may be the closest I get to such an experience and that may be okay, but it was neat to participate in a challenge that was both physical and mental like that.
I'm thankful to have a wife who knows me well enough to plan something like this for me and a brother who was willing to accept the challenge with me. Until next time. This message will self destruct.
