The past few weeks I've been waking up at about 5:30 am. It's not that I was "worried", but the second I was aware of being awake, my mind would immediately take off in a dead sprint. "WHAT NEW THING AM I GOING TO DO TODAY!? HOW CAN I MAKE THIS CAMPAIGN HAPPEN!?"
Know what I did this morning when I woke up? I rolled over and went back to sleep, happy as a clam. Because this, a $40,000 kickstarter campaign for the writing of my memoir, was entirely funded.
I'm still in shock over what happened yesterday. To recap, I had about $2,500 left to raise at 3:00 p.m. I tweeted they had moved my KickStarter timeframe from remaining days to remaining hours. I had 68 hours left. That really freaked me out! I still had $2,500 left to raise! So I made a quick post announcing these remaining hours as Lori and I were walking into Viola's first pediatric checkup.
While we were in the examination room, they kept switching out nurses and doctors on us, so in between I looked back to see my total remaining amount was just over $1,600! I was thrilled! That was nearly $900 in just a few minutes! The doctor comes back in, talking about this and that while my phone is burning a hole in my pocket. So then the doctor leaves, I yank my phone out to see we have $900 remaining! I went nuts!
Now, I understand that this may make me a bad father, but I went full cell phone psycho. I tweeted that we had $900 left as the doctor came back into our room. Obviously, Viola was fine, but despite being polite, I went to the corner of the room and checked to discover only $500 left! I tweeted that someone, anyone has an opportunity to polish off this ridiculous campaign!
The doctor left and a nurse came in to give Viola her shots. Ok, that was enough for me to get rid of the phone. Lori and I have agreed that watching over shots is a dad job. She turned away because she can't handle the pain of her daughter's cry when injected. So I hovered over Viola as they gave her a series of shots. Her eyes widened as I could see this unknown pain hitting her infant brain of my poor little girl for the very first time. Ugh, I always hate that part...
Immediately afterwards, Lori grabs her and starts feeding her. I had previously explained to Lori how quickly this money was coming in, but I felt like such a jerk for being concerned about this at that moment. After Viola was feeding, Lori practically yells, "HOW MUCH LEFT!? COME ON WENZEL!" I pull the phone out of my pocket to see my dear friend Jason Murray, currently living in Portland, had donated the final $500. I can't remember what happened after that. My campaign was finally funded at 3:55, one full hour after announcing the final amount of $2,500.
All of the agony over starting this campaign. All of the personal pain of "putting this burden on you" to make "my" dream come true. It was so hard for me to start this and the previous 40+ days have been so difficult for me. And now, sitting in a pediatrician's patient room, it was over. I was fully funded.
We did it.
With trembling fingers, in near shock, I immediately texted Jason, "HAHA! MAN! THANK YOU FOR THAT!" His response, "I love you. Go tell your story."
Goodness. At that moment I noticed what a realist I am, never assuming anything about the future. It was then when it hit me. This book is actually going to happen.
I had a few people message me afterwards concerned that the campaign was over. They had wanted to give! I informed them that the campaign is still open until 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning! That goes for the rest of you as well. The money I asked for was the bare minimum amount for my family to exist for eight months (including book printing, editing, travel, etc...) So any additional money you give could still be used for date nights with my Lori, trips to see my family, or even grab some corndogs on the beach this summer. There is still such a need for additional money! Please don't see my completion of the original amount as the final step. We've got two days left! It's just that at the beginning of all this mess, I felt so guilty asking KickStarter for a corndog allowance.
*CHANGE: Just alerted of a great idea by Kelly Heasley! The video I took of myself weeping in the car like a little girl while thanking you WILL be released IF my campaign hits $44,000!*
We ended the night with a few close friends at Terra, one table over from the exact same table where Lori dropped the bomb of being pregnant for the first time. Seemed fitting. My close friends had given me this brilliant bottle of Ruinart Champaign, which was toasted to the book my donators will receive next year, Thank You Kung-Fu.