As our family continues the adventure of sharing our mother’s book, it became obvious that the next step should be public speaking.   There are so many stories to share, and I thought if I could talk my sister, Kathy, into it everything would be fine.  I instinctively knew my mother would be up for it.   Kathy, on the other hand, was going to take a little convincing.     After a few talks, I finally told her I could not do this without her help.  At last, she agreed!

I approached the League of Catholic Women www.mplsleagcatholicwomen.org and we had our first presentation in January 2009.  We really wanted to go there, although I have to admit about two weeks before the event I started to feel a little apprehension. My biggest fear was that we would run out things to say, or worse, that they would want us to stop talking!  I shouldn’t have worried.  The women at the League are a wonderful and giving group of women with amazing personalities.  They made all of us feel like we were in our living room having a nice visit.   We left there feeling like we had made many new friends.  With our confidence in place we were ready for the next engagement.  Why is it, just when a person is feeling confident, the roof caves in?  I had carefully typed up my mother’s speech.  It was a really nice story about how she started writing spiritual poetry after she turned her life over to God.  The only thing was, was I typed this late one Sunday evening and did not proof-read it carefully enough.  So, there the three of us are, in front of a podium with microphone in hand, and I am calmly, confidently listening to my mother speak.  I absolutely wanted to crawl under a rock when she announced, “Jeanne, you forgot to type a sentence right here!  Now I don’t know where I am at!”   I remember saying, “Yikes!” near the microphone and trying to talk my mom into repeating the story from her memory instead of reading it from the paper in front of her.  I died a thousand deaths in those few seconds, however, Mother easily started telling the story as she remembered it and it all ended on a good note.

I have learned, people don’t expect us to be perfect and it is unrealistic of me to think we are going to be anyway.   I have my battle plan all ready for the next event.  It is to say a prayer first, do my best, never type on Sunday night, and let the chips fall where they may.

 Jeanne