With the clock approaching midnight last night I was surrounded my friends at a work conference. The were both amused and annoyed at my announcements of the weather report in Santa Barbara every ten minutes.

“The good news,” I told a friend who lives in Santa Barbara, “That there is no longer an 80% chance of rain on our wedding day.”

“Told ya,” she said.

“The bad news,” I continued, “is that there is now a 90% chance!”

Grumbles. The grumbling was more at me than at the vagaries of the weather. Meanwhile, midnight came and went which means that Day Twenty-Seven is better described as Day Twenty-Seven-and-a-Half.

Life, careers and marriages are like the weather. Somethings cannot be controlled however we can control how we respond to them. I’m sure my friends were mildly alarmed however I honestly have little concern for some rain.

As a Southern California boy, rain is the exception rather than the rule, and I envy the days when my mother as a child would sit on her front porch in Los Angeles and watch the frequent lighting flashes and rolling thunder that used to be so frequent here.

In fact, the weather is more of a substitute for my low-simmering anxiousness of our event coming up. Will our guests enjoy themselves? Will we stay within our budget? What did I forget to do?

In the end, none of that matters. What does matter is the moment. We will be in the moment with those closest to us and many others close to us who even though will not be at the wedding are cheering for us louder than thunderclaps. That is what I have been hearing from friends and colleagues every day on my business trip.