first impressions

"You never get a second chance to make a good first impression."  - Will Rogers

I've been thinking about first impressions lately.  Mostly because I don't always trust mine.  When Kelly Ripa announced that Michael Strahan was her new cohost I was so disappointed.  My first impression was that he was goofy, lite and so unRegisy.  A few months later, after seeing numerous snippets of the show while charting or in patient's rooms, my feelings have totally changed.  Michael is funny and warm and solid.  A great partner for Kelly, and I love to watch them together.  I had the same change of heart with Willie Giest on the Today Show, and Kerry Washington from Scandal.  From skeptical to a raving fan.  So I wonder about first impressions.

I also think about first impressions because it is regularly my job to make good ones.  At work I've got a phone call and a visit to convince a family that they would benefit having a chaplain.  Even if they already have an involved pastor or the only religious people they know scream about hell and want their money.  Just a few minutes of impression time to low key/big sell my way into the end of their lives.

I do it with my hobby career too.  A local wedding venue gives my name to couples getting married who don't have an officiant to do the wedding.  We "blind date" meet at a local coffee shop and I have just a few minutes to make them comfortable while convincing them that I know more about making their wedding fantastic than anyone else they could find.  I only have one shot to make a favorable impression.

And then there is this little brown puppy - 

Last October we were still grieving over the loss of our 9 year old white french bull dog.  I was in no hurry to replace her, when my mother-in-law Sandy called about a great deal on bull dog puppies in her area.  This was too good a deal to pass up.  I made a phone call and learned there was one girl puppy left, a brown one.  And she could go any minute.  Steve was out of town, so I just had to go for it.  It was too soon.  She wasn't the color I wanted.  But she was available and affordable.   I sent a down payment and made plans to drive the 2 hours to check her out that weekend.

I made the trip with Sandy and my son Josh.  The whole trip was full of speeches from me.  We weren't going to rush into this.  We were going to spend some time with this puppy and see if she was a fit for our family.  This was going to be Dad's dog and we didn't even have to get her today.  If we had any questions we would get part of our deposit back and wait for the right dog.  I needed both of them to be very critical and observant and to give me their honest feedback.  We needed to remember that all puppies are cute and not to be swayed by that.  We were probably not going to even get her today....

Finally we arrived at the kennel.  Somehow I was a few steps ahead of Sandy and Josh as we reached the front door.  The woman I had talked to opened the door.  As I was stepping in, a tiny ball of brown french bulldog tore across the room and jumped paws first up on my leg.  I looked down into her big brown eyes.

And that was it for me.  I turned around to Sandy and Josh, still walking up the path.  "We are taking her." I called.  "She is perfect."  (Sandy is still laughing at me about this.)

Aggie just turned one.   We haven't regretted our choice for a second.  She is the sweetest, most cuddly and precious dog imaginable.   She'd have to be to so throughly win over my non-animal loving heart. 

Talk about a great first impression!