Back From the Beach and Moving Forward

I’m back! The beach was great! I didn’t get burnt or eaten by the shark we saw (no kidding – it was less than half a football field from my friend Laurie), and I had an amazing time just relaxing in the sand.

I have to admit, though, that things didn’t go so well back on the home front. While I was soaking up rays and floating in tide pools, the youngest boy was back here making trouble for Dad. On the first day he redecorated our bedroom with Vicks Vapor Rub during nap time. The next day he changed the color of his shirt and Darth Vader’s (life-sized, mind you) helmet with the contents of his diaper – and not the yellow contents.

And just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, Daddy had a wreck in the van. No one was hurt and the kids weren’t with him, thankfully, but it’s definitely going to put a dent in that tax return. All of this happened, by the way, by Tuesday. So I figured I should come home early with the crew that would be driving back Thursday. I didn’t want to risk anything else happening, or he might not let me go next year!

So now I’m home, the kids are in North Carolina visiting grandparents, and the van’s in the body shop. I still have two days left to get ready for She Speaks (the writers’ and speakers’ conference I’m going to this weekend), and I think I might just make it in time. But preparing for this conference has made me think about some things.

I have come to realize, for one thing, that I like making people laugh. Not that I want to be a stand up comedienne or anything, but I love to be able to throw out that well-timed comment here and there that brings a chuckle to the room. I think that’s what has made getting ready for this speaker’s conference so difficult.

I have to have two presentations ready: one three minute presentation about my life story (please – we can’t even get through Kindergarten in three minutes), and one five minute presentation that teaches a passage of scripture (with a captivating intro, references and full ending that wraps it up before I’m cut off at the five minute mark). There just simply isn’t time in either presentation to be as funny as I like to be, and it’s killing me!

I’m trying to put a humorous spin in here and there, but it's just tough with such a short talk. I feel a little like I’m not going to be speaking in my usual manner, but I think it will be good for me all the same. I just can’t believe it’s happening this Friday! Yikes!

So, yes, here I am again to give an excuse as to why I’m slacking on the blog. But hopefully things really will calm down after this conference. We’ll see. I am taking a couple of seminars on blogging while I’m there, so maybe this whole thing will get a facelift when I get back. Don’t you wish!

Anyway, send a prayer my way for safety in traveling and for a good conference. And if you think about it, pray that I’ll get along well with my roommate…I’m not too crazy about this random roommate selection stuff, but who knows? Maybe we’ll be made for each other. With any luck I’ll at least be able to make her laugh…