One day in 2005 I received a voicemail from a shipping company.
They had tried calling the day before, but the message asking where I wanted my shipment delivered didn’t make any sense. I hadn’t ordered anything from anyone lately, so I assumed they had the wrong number and ignored it.
The voicemail this time was different.
“Hi Cam. We’ve been trying to get in touch with you. You should call me.”
That wasn’t how someone trying to sell something would leave a message. He used my name and there was a bit of excitement in his voice. So I called back.
When I reached him, the first thing he asked was:
“Where do you want your shipment delivered?”
“What shipment?” I asked.
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“We have seven skids of equipment here for you. We need to know where to deliver it.”
“What are you talking about?” I said.
“You won the Dream Workshop at the Canadian Woodworking Show. We have seven skids of Delta woodworking equipment here for you.”
Then it hit me.
The week before, I had attended the Canadian Woodworking Show and filled out one of those little ballots that about 15,000 other people had dropped into the same box.
I happened to know the gentleman organizing the draw because I had taken woodworking courses from him. As soon as I hung up the phone, I called him.
“Hi Hendrick,” I said.
“Hi Cam,” he replied.
“Is there something you should tell me?” I asked playfully.
I explained the call I had just received.
“Oh, damn,” he said. “Someone was supposed to call you and let you know that you won the $13,000 Dream Workshop. Looks like we got our wires crossed.”
😐
At the time, I was seriously considering going back to my 15-year telecom career. The tech bubble had burst, the companies disappeared, the jobs dried up, and I had pivoted into building custom furniture.
Six months later I would come up with the idea of making pepper grinders out of naturally fallen tree branches.
I’m not particularly religious, but part of me still feels like someone—or something—was trying to send a message:
Keep going. It will work out.
And it certainly did.
Thanks universe.