July 2, 2012 was a very important day in my life. In the week prior to that day I was struggling to find balance in my life. I was working very hard at building my electronic security business, but I was not making much progress. I had recently transitioned a relationship from pseudo-romantic to indifferent. I was struggling financially even though I felt as though I was working nearly all day every day. Then I heard the blurb on the local public radio station event calendar.
Imagination Installations was hosting a design marathon at SECCA (South Eastern Center of Contemporary Art) and everyone was invited. The purpose of the event was to imagine a public art installation and design it so that it could be built and installed in Winston-Salem. I was so stoked! This is my jam. This is just what I needed – a chance to be a part of something dynamic and creative. I cleared my calendar for the day Saturday July 2, 2012 and sent the word out on facebook and via email. I remember talking to people the entire week asking them if they had heard about the event. “Can you come out”? “Do you want me to stop by and pick you up”? I wanted to share the good news with everyone.
On the day of the event I showed up early and as I dismounted my chopper the butterflies started furiously fluttering in my belly. I was greeted by the organizers of the event and it was obvious that they were professional designers. I suddenly became very self conscious and wondered if anyone would decide me not worthy of participation in a design charette. As people filed in I found that I knew only a small number of people there, which helped to maintain my nervousness.
Right on time the organizers rallied all of us in the auditorium and set out the parameters of the day. They introduced themselves and the intent of the “Imagine when… project”. They then organized us into teams and sent us to tables supplied with pens, pencils, markers, paper, and various art supplies. My team consisted of an industrial designer, a recent college grad with a BA in Fine Art, a female pastor, a financial consultant and her 12 year old daughter, and me. As the ideas started to flow I didn’t even notice how the butterflies inside of me turned to a fountain of creative ideas that flowed like a rushing river. I was so excited that I had to sit on my hands from time to time to keep from monopolizing the conversation.
My team of designers had diverse backgrounds and viewpoints, and it was quickly obvious that we had very different visions of what makes a great art installation. Differences of opinion often times leads to friction and sometimes argument, but in this structured environment with a common goal we were able to use these differences to expand our individual thinking to places we could not have gotten to otherwise. I think this is called chemistry, good chemistry. There were some moments of near frustration, but our will to create a winning design before the deadline over ruled and we moved forward.
At the end of the day all of the teams gathered to present final design concepts and explain each team’s ideas. There were few similarities between the 8 final ideas presented. They ranged from a design that included a labyrinth and a public garden, to a digital waterfall that works like a dot matrix printer to transmit messages in water that the public could create at various points around town and view online. After presentations awards were handed out in the form of tiny little trophies.
I don’t remember what the trophies were for, save for one. I did win the trophy for most ridiculous pursuit of a tiny plastic trophy, but that was part of what made that day such an important day in my life. As we were voting by applause I whooped and hollered and clapped as loud as I could to cast my votes, and some of those votes were for my team’s ideas. I noticed a kindred spirit just behind me during one of my voting rants and I turned to see a beautiful girl smiling and giggling at me. I asked her to help me out here and in a few minutes, after an extremely raucous vote by me and my new accomplice, I had my trophy – the little plastic one. What I didn’t know that day is that the girl smiling and laughing at me would become the love of my life, but that’s a story for another day.
One of the many lessons I learned that day was that collaboratively we can accomplish magical things. All of the good ideas, and even some “bad” ones helped to open up new passages of thought during our design marathon, passages that could have been left untraveled otherwise. That day I found so much more than a way to pass the day or forget about my troubles, I found the real me; and as a bonus, the greatest bonus, I found Cyndi.
Alan Shelton Design 
You are the most amazing person. I am so touched to read your writing! It makes me so happy to hear about that day from your perspective, and to remember the HUGE crush I had on you after we left SECCA. How lucky am I? The luckiest.