I have been invited to guest speak at the meeting of a Catholic woman's group next month. A friend and neighbor heads up the monthly presentations and she suggested that my Camino journey might be an interesting topic. She added that the women might also like to hear about my more recent trip to Italy.
For the January talk, I will have to come up with something that will hold their interest for at least twenty minutes. I have given long thought to this and have been rather casual in my preparation. Public speaking comes easily to me. I was, after all, a childbirth educator years ago, speaking to a small crowd of new and anxious people, every six weeks for thirteen years. Meeting new people and forming a bond, then, became a necessary skill. But, this time, I will be addressing an audience of women who perhaps have long ago moved from that point in their lives and are now at the point of seeking new adventures, not related to births and hopefully, more related to their own personal growth. If I hold that thought, the preparation and final production should not be difficult.
I shall divide my presentation into three parts. A before, during and after. Here again, piece of cake.
Almost like childbirth, isn't it? All is calm before a contraction as we wait for it to begin, not knowing of course, how things will feel, how well we will handle what's ahead or what the final outcome will be. During a contraction, we are left with the point of no return, the slow development and the cresting before the retreat and the return to the times in-between. And then, the blissful time after each, and finally, after all, when a baby in arms is the reward. If we are so fortunate, we get to live side by side with that baby and our responsibilities to the child grow as does the child.
So, in planning to speak about the great event, I will tell my audience that this was a plan that grew out of my desire to celebrate my seventieth birthday by taking on a challenge, that there will be a beginning, a middle and an end to the story.
The need to take on something great came from my disappointment in a previous landmark birthday. At the time, I was working as a corporate nurse in New York City. A lot of my clients were executive level and many of them, my same age. We were facing this landmark of sixty as a group so it was not uncommon for one of them to come to my office for a service and conversation about their lives and how they planned to celebrate a birthday. I heard about trips to exotic places, dancing the tango in Argentina, safaris, huge family trips, and quiet celebrations with family members. With each month, new ideas came and of course, I was in anticipation of my own celebration. An early retirement package should have filled that bill, but that only led to our return to the Cape, to be closer to my aging parents. So, the big day was approaching and so was a baby.....our second grandchild. Her due date, just weeks after my birthday, in the middle of a snowy Winter. A Winter which brought the flu to our house.
And, on the day of my birthday, instead of a big adventure in celebration, I sat it out, all day, as nurse-wife to my flu-riddled husband as he lay in bed. Baked my own birthday cake, brought it over to my parent's home where it was welcomed with "you baked your own cake, how ridiculous" Amen. With the day not over, I invited a friend out to dinner. We had a lovely time but she had totally forgotten that it was my birthday. She just thought it nice that we had dinner together. End of that story.
In approaching my seventieth birthday, I was determined to find that something special. Just one more big birthday please!!!! No, no party. No, no big gift. Please, just something........
Well, a few months before, for some reason I will never understand, I joined a bowling league. Heck, I used to bowl when my kids were young. Loved being on a weekly league, especially since there was childcare provided. I did fairly well. But when I showed up on the first day of this new venture, I found out that this was Candlestick Bowling, something I had never in my life done. And, very soon, I discovered that I was not very good at it and time was not improving my style or my scores. But, I did not quit. I started to think of my Wednesdays at the bowling center as my weekly challenges and prided myself on my attention to that detail of my life. Challenge acceptor. New title.
I think it's easy to see where this story is going. For my birthday celebration, I was going to find something challenging. I had a new and more capable body one year after my bariatric surgery. I knew I was brave and I knew I was ready to take on something great again. So, I did a tiny bit of research and found the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage across the top of Spain. Now, this is a beginning.
More tomorrow.
For the January talk, I will have to come up with something that will hold their interest for at least twenty minutes. I have given long thought to this and have been rather casual in my preparation. Public speaking comes easily to me. I was, after all, a childbirth educator years ago, speaking to a small crowd of new and anxious people, every six weeks for thirteen years. Meeting new people and forming a bond, then, became a necessary skill. But, this time, I will be addressing an audience of women who perhaps have long ago moved from that point in their lives and are now at the point of seeking new adventures, not related to births and hopefully, more related to their own personal growth. If I hold that thought, the preparation and final production should not be difficult.
I shall divide my presentation into three parts. A before, during and after. Here again, piece of cake.
Almost like childbirth, isn't it? All is calm before a contraction as we wait for it to begin, not knowing of course, how things will feel, how well we will handle what's ahead or what the final outcome will be. During a contraction, we are left with the point of no return, the slow development and the cresting before the retreat and the return to the times in-between. And then, the blissful time after each, and finally, after all, when a baby in arms is the reward. If we are so fortunate, we get to live side by side with that baby and our responsibilities to the child grow as does the child.
So, in planning to speak about the great event, I will tell my audience that this was a plan that grew out of my desire to celebrate my seventieth birthday by taking on a challenge, that there will be a beginning, a middle and an end to the story.
The need to take on something great came from my disappointment in a previous landmark birthday. At the time, I was working as a corporate nurse in New York City. A lot of my clients were executive level and many of them, my same age. We were facing this landmark of sixty as a group so it was not uncommon for one of them to come to my office for a service and conversation about their lives and how they planned to celebrate a birthday. I heard about trips to exotic places, dancing the tango in Argentina, safaris, huge family trips, and quiet celebrations with family members. With each month, new ideas came and of course, I was in anticipation of my own celebration. An early retirement package should have filled that bill, but that only led to our return to the Cape, to be closer to my aging parents. So, the big day was approaching and so was a baby.....our second grandchild. Her due date, just weeks after my birthday, in the middle of a snowy Winter. A Winter which brought the flu to our house.
And, on the day of my birthday, instead of a big adventure in celebration, I sat it out, all day, as nurse-wife to my flu-riddled husband as he lay in bed. Baked my own birthday cake, brought it over to my parent's home where it was welcomed with "you baked your own cake, how ridiculous" Amen. With the day not over, I invited a friend out to dinner. We had a lovely time but she had totally forgotten that it was my birthday. She just thought it nice that we had dinner together. End of that story.
In approaching my seventieth birthday, I was determined to find that something special. Just one more big birthday please!!!! No, no party. No, no big gift. Please, just something........
Well, a few months before, for some reason I will never understand, I joined a bowling league. Heck, I used to bowl when my kids were young. Loved being on a weekly league, especially since there was childcare provided. I did fairly well. But when I showed up on the first day of this new venture, I found out that this was Candlestick Bowling, something I had never in my life done. And, very soon, I discovered that I was not very good at it and time was not improving my style or my scores. But, I did not quit. I started to think of my Wednesdays at the bowling center as my weekly challenges and prided myself on my attention to that detail of my life. Challenge acceptor. New title.
I think it's easy to see where this story is going. For my birthday celebration, I was going to find something challenging. I had a new and more capable body one year after my bariatric surgery. I knew I was brave and I knew I was ready to take on something great again. So, I did a tiny bit of research and found the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage across the top of Spain. Now, this is a beginning.
More tomorrow.
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