So I sent the speech from my last post to coach Rich and he was able to see things that I could not.  Namely that although the 2 stories in my speech had the same message, the 1st story was a fun anecdote and the 2nd story, while being humorous was rather tragic.  They were “mismatched” he said.  And I could see it as soon as I read that but without his perspective, not sure I would have seen it at all or at least in time.

He said that either of those stories could stand alone so that’s what I did.  I took story one and made it a speech on it’s own.  I have to tell you, I LOVED, I mean absolutely LOVED it.  So much so that I will probably enter it in the humorous speech contest this fall.  It has a message but I felt it was a little light for International.  I mean, let’s get real here:

Last year’s winner Carol was battling cancer in her story.

The year before, Mustapha’s father was abandoning him in Sierra Leone.

My little story, though well written, couldn’t compare.

Rich felt that my instincts were correct and encouraged me to write the 2nd story to see what would happen.  That was my intent tonight but it didn’t happen.  I am so absolutely wiped I didn’t even get much needed groceries tonight so Meaghan and I had a somewhat strange supper of pork chops, bananas and garlic bread with cheese.

So I’m going to get a good night’s sleep and spend tomorrow on the speech.  I feel pretty prolific these days.  Pounding out speeches like there’s no tomorrow!  And I also have to say how much I enjoyed writing that speech last night.  I laughed out loud and really relished the process.  Man, this is what it’s all about eh?  Doin’ what you love.  This has SUCH a different feel from last fall.  Or ever, really.

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