Last night was one of those rare nights where inspiration struck and wouldn’t let me go. I’ve written before about how computer code is a bit of an art form for me, and last night, a canvas was dropped before me and a brush was stuck in my hand.

Sometimes it’s just a puzzle piece that falls into place that starts it all. That’s what happened last night. A key piece to the messaging system I’m re-working over at ProtegaText finally got looked into, and it was so simple (not easy – simple) to implement that it got me literally saying “wow, wow, wow” as I sat here in my recliner coding late into the evening. I couldn’t put it down, but eventually I did, and it was still a reasonable hour for bedtime.

Thing is, though, the brain was in gear, and the heart was following it right along. I laid in bed – no longer imagining how this might work – but seeing it, line by line, form by form, and piece by piece – all come together. Eventually I had to get up… not to code, but to find my notebook, pen, and a book light. I haven’t looked at the scribbles I created yet this morning, but I know they are awesome. Workflows that I’ve been struggling to see. Electronic conversations I couldn’t figure out. It’s all there.

Nights like this are rare, and that’s probably a good thing, given that I’m a father of two children who need tending early in the morning. I’m not at a stage of life where I can pull all nighters writing code, but when the moment strikes, sometimes you just can’t ignore it.

One thing I loved about last night is that my wife wanted to hear about it. Maybe that was just because I was keeping her up with my book light and scribbling – instead of wadding up ideas that don’t work I just scribble them out. But she kept asking, and instead of giving her the old “you don’t want to hear,” I went ahead and told her… who knows what she understood -she’s no techie – but she wanted to hear, nonetheless.

And then came that moment every man longs for… “I’m proud of you.” TWICE she said that last night. TWICE. Rocks my world.

So yeah… inspiration struck last night. And here I am, throwing the rock on the pile.

And for the record… a few other things happened yesterday:

  • Picked up a signed agreement for our first government project, which also happens to be one of the largest single projects we’ve ever done. This thing has the signature of an elected official on it! That may seem petty… but there’s over a year and a half worth of nurturing a relationship in this, and I love it.
  • Had my first meeting with a possible distributor for TruckStock, and wow, that meeting went great. I was originally meeting with just the regional store manager (or so I thought), but when I walked in I also found myself face to face with the sales manager, the e-commerce guy, and the COO, who had travelled up from Cincinnati. Following the meeting, the regional manager took me aside and talked about how the COO rarely shows his cards this early in the game, and that he thought this might be a win-win-win opportunity with real promise. I felt the same.
  • Picked up a new client… an old time friend… through a new networking group I’m part of.
  • Dropped by a ProtegaText friend and left him with some materials to pass out to his friends.
  • Watched my son play soccer.
  • Ran off some steam with my dog.
  • Heard back on an opportunity that really has me curious… that’s all I can say there for now.
  • A few other things, which I won’t mention here… it was just a great day. And the thing is, that wasn’t all just “out of the blue.” These moments have been coming – some steady, some fast and furious, and some even slow, hard, tricky, and with a good dose of frustration.

I love how Faithful and True my Father is. I love how when I hear those “I’m Proud Of You” comments sometime they seem to come straight from him.

Thank you so much, Father. SDG.