Trials and Tribulations...of a launch

This week, I've learned an important lesson: never underestimate the power of support.
As the launch date of our project approached on Tuesday, the youth were clearly excited. They were anxious, yes, but ready. The last couple of weeks of prep work certainly had its moments, but overall, things really came together.
And launch day came...and OH BOY. Talk about not working out! When I woke up, I tested the system - and it didn't work. At that moment, my stomach turned into a knot. A total knot.
I proceeded to spend about 2 hours on the phone with tech-support. And I thought I'd fixed it - but with one challenge still looming (the issue of being a 'subscriber'), but one thought we could get around.
So, Tuesday night, I went to our weekly meeting and skyped with our expert as the youth listened. As I layed out what I had found out earlier in the day, we found out that, despite what the company had told me earlier, the glitch was not fixed. I felt so incredibly badly. I felt like they had done their part, and I had failed in doing mine. The company we had contracted with didn't seem to have the product we needed.
So, after explaining the situation, we decided to call tech support on speaker phone, with the expert on skype and the teens listening.
The empowering thing? They all stood behind me. They all pumped me up and told me to be strong. They knew that this kind of conflict often intimidated me. Mostly, I think they were concerned that I seemed as calm as I did.
Sadly, tech support didn't answer. I called them back later in the night, with S, the expert, on skype again. After more than an hour, and numerous attempts at getting around the poorly-designed system, they told us our sales rep would call us in the morning. S, in the meantime, had found another company who might be able to help out, so we called her contact there. We got the answers we needed. I should probably mention that S was in the UK, and we didn't get off the phone until 10pm my time. Hm, she poured her heart into helping to solve the problem.
Needless to say, I was pretty certain at this point that the original company had sold us a product they didn't have. I was stressed, but calm (don't ask, I don't get it either - it is like I focus so intently on the problem, that I appear calm, hmmm).
Wednesday morning, the sales rep called. And after 10 minutes of her trying to blame us, and me explaining that she'd never told us they couldn't provide the service we really wanted (I had reviewed EVERY email, EVERY word of the contract, EVERY correspondence - and NO where did they say it wouldn't work!), she said she'd cancel the contract - AND refund the money. And the new company? They're actually cheaper! :)
So, we have to change our promotion materials because our carrier has changed. BUT - it was the youth who really pumped me up.
S wrote an incredibly flattering email to them all - thanking them for pumping me up, and congratulating me. For a moment, I realized I'd been mentored like I hoped to mentor the young people. The youth responded - with wonderful words and super support. I'm so indebted to S. Grateful to have her along on this journey...
And today, on the yutes' day off, we met and ironed out all the details...it was awesome.
So, through all the challenges and tribulations of a few really stressful days , I saw how resilient we all are. I saw how keeping my cool, but being strong, was really the best course of action. And how the youth and I and S really are a team - that we all need one another. That it takes all of us to make our project work.
I'm grateful. Incredibly grateful. And buoyed by the support. Who could ask for anything more?