the mother lode slipped away...

The other day I was walking around in circles in the LaSolana pool when I commented to Miss Kitty about how terrible the Super Bowl was:

"There's always next year Rob," her soothing voice from twelve feet away says, "It's not the end of the world."

"I know Miss Kitty," is my response as a smile finally comes to my face, "It's not just the Chiefs getting their ass whipped. My friend Roy decided to bet his entire stake on the game. His wife threw him out of the house because the Chiefs lost."

Miss Kitty is a distinguished lady in her late sixties, she's a gem of a person & always dispenses useful bits of wisdom.

"It sounds to me like your friend has a gambling problem," is her logical response, "Tell him he needs to find a new team to bet on."

"You got that right Miss Kitty. The Chiefs really disappointed me with their performance. They let a lot of people down. What a stink bomb."

"Don't dwell on it Rob, it's over now. There will always another game to bet on."

We chat a little more about the weather and then she asks:

"What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial? Mine was the one with the guy from Saturday Night Live. What's his name?"

"Will Ferrell"

"Yeah, I watch Elf every year with my grand kids. He's a great actor. What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial Rob?"

Everyone bare with me for a moment while I explain a sad situation for me...A few years back I loosely teamed with a guy in Las Vegas on development of a food delivery application. Back then there was low hanging fruit everywhere you turned. A friend of mine who is fluent in both Mandarin & English suggested we introduce the process to the restaurants in Chinatown (there's a whole lot of them). Food delivery applications were in its nascent stage at the time with zero in Chinatown. I immediately signed ten restaurants for the service. The guy I was loosely partnered with at the time couldn't raise the capital to keep me. The truth is I didn't need him & he didn't need me. I was at the start of what is now a two hundred billion dollar a year service. Here is where the story gets sad:

"Miss Kitty I got upset watching a couple of the commercials," a feeling of anger comes across me, "Do you remember me telling you about how I whiffed in Chinatown and now those restaurants are churning out millions upon millions for delivery applications? They could have been under my families thumb, but no such luck. I had no core & it escaped."

"Oh Rob, I know what commercial you are talking about. It's the DoorDash commercial, isn't it? Don't let it bother you. Something else will fall your way," adding in an optimistic tone, "Just think, if you would have been successful you'd be living in some mansion over in Scottsdale & we would have never met."

What a sweetheart she is, still the sting remains.

"Do you want to know what kills me Miss Kitty? I was in Chinatown with restaurants stacked to the ceiling. First guy there by a mile and it still got a way. Now when I see all these food delivery applications with Super Bowl commercials it ratifies how successful the process has become. It's a hard pill to swallow nowadays Miss Kitty."

She sympathizes by telling me a story about how she could of bought Apple at two dollars a share back in the day; but didn't.

"Those stocks nowadays would be worth millions. Don't beat yourself up too much over it."

As sweet as Miss Kitty is...it did nothing to ease the sting.

"It was my one shot in life to hit the jackpot. I yelled it out as loud as I could to anyone who would listen and still laid an egg. Things would be so much different for me now if I would have converted. The scary thing is Chinatown would have been just the beginning. It was a perfect place to scale," shrugging my shoulders & finishing with, "I fucked up Miss Kitty. The mother lode was right in front of me & it slipped away."

"Oh Rob, it breaks my heart when you tell that story. Don't worry something else will come your way."

"I wished I shared your optimism Miss Kitty. I really do."