Mission Accomplished

Well, it's done. I didn't die of embarrassment, or spontaneously combust onstage, or have to wake everybody up when my speech was concluded last night. On the contrary, I actually get the feeling that my little story was well-received. I am still loath to explain exactly WHY so many women showed up to hear me discuss myself; personally, I think listening to me talk about my life is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Nevertheless, by various accounts somewhere between 20-30 MORE women than usual turned out at the Ladies of the Open Circle gathering. Talk about pressure!

It was a little bit surreal, sitting onstage with so many eyes trained on me. Is it any wonder that I taught my kids from birth how to behave in church? Not only did I NOT welcome the attention that a misbehaving child would attract, but heaven forbid I should have to get up and actually walk down the aisle while carrying a screaming child with me--I'd rather have all my teeth extracted WITHOUT laughing gas! Am I making myself clear about how much I HATE attention??

For all that, though, I must say that the concern that came back to haunt me the most yesterday was the old fear of "going on too long." Ugh, how I never want to repeat that scenario again. I asked my friend and rock to give me a 15-minute warning and then a 5-minute warning when I needed to wrap things up, and I think I also recommended having a shepherd's crook handy if I really got out of hand. Believe it or not, I have it on good authority that when T flashed the 15-minute warning, a lady sitting nearby whispered, "Oh, don't stop her!" So there!

Seriously, there were so many encouraging faces staring back at me last night that it really was almost impossible to be nervous once I actually got wound up. I could almost hear a couple of the ladies whispering, "Come on, you're doing great! Don't give up!" Wow. So many of the ladies have been so kind to tell me what a blessing I am to them and to Woodland West, and I can only say "Ditto infinity!!!"