We traveled over my birthday weekend flying to San Antonio for my youngest daughter’s son’s first birthday party. I had marvelous conversations both coming and going sparked by what I was wearing. In 1976, John Molloy published the seminal bestseller, Dress for Success. (His book is still available. To order it, click here). I turned 18 on October 28, 1976, and voted in my first ever presidential election—but more about that later. While it’s literally been more than 46 years since I picked up that book, I still think about the title—and so does my wife, Valerie. We sold our house five years ago and moved into a residential life facility as dorm parents at a Christian School in southern California. I continue to sell real estate, working from our residence. Val has told me on more than one occasion to dress like I’m going to sell a house that day rather than lounging around in my casual workout clothes. That means not wearing gray sweatpants and a hoodie, which would be my wardrobe of choice if I weren’t out selling $30 million homes and showing $20,000/month leases. But back to traveling…
When we left early Friday, I was wearing said sweatpants and a black hoodie with The Chosen television show logo on it. If you’re not familiar with The Chosen, then you’re not one of the 250,000,000 viewers (Yes, that’s 250 million viewers) who stream this historical drama about the life of Christ. Between LAX and San Antonio airport, I met four of The Chosen’s two hundred fifty million raving fans who commented positively about my attire. Like me, they love the show and how it humanizes Jesus of Nazareth. By the time the fourth person had commented about my sweatshirt in the San Antonio airport, I was feeling much better about mankind.
Little did I know, though, my positive outlook would be challenged over the next six days due to all of the negative ads I would see on television boldly lying about political candidates who had previously debunked those same lies. But…
How ‘Bout Them Chiefs
Going home, I got to wear my own birthday present—a brand new Kansas City Chiefs cap and my Patrick Mahomes jersey, a present from last year’s big day.
The comments started with the man checking me in at curbside and didn’t stop until I got off the Flyaway bus in Van Nuys. I can understand if you aren’t familiar with The Chosen; however, if you don’t know the Kansas City Chiefs, where have you been the last six years? The Chiefs have won back-to-back Super Bowl Championships the last two years and want to do what has never been done before—win three consecutive Super Bowls. They are off to a rip-roaring 9-1 start, too!
Once I got seated at my gate, I had more than an hour to spare before boarding my flight home to Los Angeles. A couple from St. Louis sat down opposite me and started a conversation based on my Mahomes jersey. I discovered they became Chiefs’ fans when the Rams left The Gateway to the West to move back to LA. They became such diehard fans they have traveled to the last two Super Bowl games to cheer on our team. Our conversation deepened as we discussed our children and how their lives are going. One of their daughters quit her job and is traveling around Australia and countries close by. I wouldn’t have known this except for my Chiefs jersey starting the conversation.
Once I landed in LA, I sat down on the first row of the Flyaway bus and soon found myself in conversation with Jafar, a US citizen returning from his native Pakistan. Again, my Chiefs jersey started the conversation. We both loved football and discussed going to SoFi Stadium to see games there—of course, me taking my grandson to see the Chiefs play the Chargers. Because we were traveling in rush hour traffic, we had time to explore more than our love of sports. Conversation soon turned to politics, and it was refreshing to meet someone who sincerely loved our country and was grateful for the freedoms we have in the US even though he was not born here.
Shadows of Betrayal
I recently published my first novel, Shadows of Betrayal, which is a fictional look at the 2024 election.
I wrote this tome with my longtime friend, Vicki Montoya, whom I met in college. You’ll see the iconic red sole Louboutin® shoes on the cover which are worn by our female protagonist, Ernestina Bishop, who absolutely dresses for success any time she goes out or undercover. Shadows of Betrayal follows Abraham Washington, a now retired FBI Deputy Special Director of the FBI Terrorism Task Force, who is lured back into the Las Vegas group he led nine years ago. They are investigating whether billionaire arms dealer, Oliver Farnsworth, had anything to do with the death of FBI agent, Alan Tatum, who mysteriously died while rock climbing. It seems Farnsworth’s Micro-drone might have been the means by which he met his untimely death. Additionally, the FBI task force is assigned the job of guarding Senator Carter Blaisdell, a Democrat from Missouri who has the audacity to challenge the feeble incumbent president for the nomination in 2023. Sinister forces do not want this rogue senator to succeed and hire a former MI6 agent to take him out at a political rally. (Sound familiar? We wrote our story a year before what happened on July 13 of this year).
We dressed our characters for success, whether it be Abraham Washington’s shoe shining uniform he wears at the Springfield Branson Airport or Oliver Farnsworth wearing a Hugo Boss® tuxedo. Prior to the November 5th election, I awakened to see that a certain presidential candidate was out campaigning wearing a garbage collector’s bib and driving around in a garbage truck after the sitting president called his followers, “Garbage.” I guess he is following the adage, If life gives you a lemon, make lemonade.
For me, I’d love to see the ones calling people Hitler or Fascists drop the name calling, and instead call our nation to come together, dressed for success to resume our place as world leader. Using both party’s slogans, I’d like to see us Dressed in Joy, which the character of John in The Chosen later writes:
It is the greatest joy of my life to hear that my children are consistently living their lives in the ways of truth! I John 1:4 The Passion Translation
And I’d like to see us Dressed in Greatness again. Joy and Greatness are two garments in which we are truly Dressed For Success. (And how ‘bout those Chiefs)?!?
You can order Shadows of Betrayal by clicking here.