With the year 2012 only hours away from coming to a close, I find myself looking back — with some disbelief I might add — at some of the adventures that came my way this year and the path that has led to the start of another January.
The year started with a new sense of adventure. A new sense of adventure because, up until only a few months earlier, I still had the “safety net” of being someone else’s employee. I had until that time, considered the work of a single operator, one system disc jockey company, to be purely a part time venture. Nothing that could ever become full time.
However, due to the encouragement of not only my incredible clients (that I would soon call friends) but people like Bryan Podworny, Mark & Rebecca Ferrel, Peter Merry and countless others, my eyes started becoming more open to the possibility. The possibility that maybe, just maybe, people would sincerely value the work of someone who was as invested in the overall outcome of their event as they were. It was time to stray from my comfort zone, to the place where real, genuine art was possible.
Just like a Toyota whose floor mat has gotten hooked onto the accelerator (no, our RAV4 was spared that recall), 2012 started to move along at a pace that at times was a challenge to keep up with. Many late nights were spent working on the details, the big & small, to ensure that I was going to be bringing everything needed to create the events that my wedding couples were expecting.
It didn’t all go perfect. It can’t possibly (and where would the fun in that be?!). But the year’s work went well enough that I can honestly say I’ve had the best 12 months of my life. From “running late” to the reception, wildly entertaining wedding party dances, to outrageously funny moments of kissing, the tears while watching and listening to a first dance or a father daughter moment, an unforgettable cupcake cutting, arm wrestling with Grandma, Red Solo Cups at one ceremony and 2 Unlimited at another, sparklers & fireworks, and of course, a conga line through the pool in Mexico. 2012 had it all and so much more.
The moments that highlight this year for me would fill a small book. And there would be another novel if I was to include the storied birth (really overdue… and tied closely to a wedding I’ll never forget) of my second baby girl this past September and the adventures her and her now 2 year old sister are having with my wife & I.
I write to much some days/most days/every day (your pick), so I’m simply going to show my appreciation as follows:
“Thank You”
I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I’ll do my best in passing along the good fortune you’ve given me to others. A large part of my time away from family this year has been spent helping & encouraging other disc jockeys to realize their true potential and true value. With the proper encouragement, training, practise, mentorship, dedication and most of all, genuine commitment to those they are working with/for, disc jockeys everywhere will garner more respect for their chosen profession and live better lives as a result. It is my hope, that the work I am doing now will one day be looked at as reasonably average.
May the journeys of all newlyweds this year be fruitful and great. Create wonderful new memories together. Laugh, travel, meet new people, eat, dance, sing, stare off into the blue sky…
My hope is that each and every person I’ve had the pleasure of having some contact with is surrounded by the positivity and encouragement you need to keep moving forward in this often distracted world. You could avoid all the “glass half full stuff”, but you’re only putting up a wall between the you you think you are and the you you don’t realize you could be.
Happy 2013 everyone. Talk soon.
Dave Ternier :: Master of Ceremonies :: Disc Jockey