Well, I had an early Mother’s Day gift yesterday in that I won the Toastmasters International Speech Contest at the District level, which means I will go on to compete nationally at the Toastmasters Conference in August in Orlando. There I’ll compete in the semi-finals against the 81 other District winners. If I win this (which granted, is a long shot) then I go on to compete worldwide against the nine top International Speech Contest winners IN THE WORLD. That means I’m only two competitions away from the very top spot. Even if I get eliminated in the semi-finals I can’t believe I’ve come this far.
What was particularly sweet about this win is that my speech is about when my son Derrick met his hero, legendary jazz trumpet player Wynton Marsalis. It’s so nice to be able to take such a poignant piece of my personal history and deliver it in such a way that touches others. Every time I write something close to my heart, I’m always amazed by how many people can relate.
Also, it was a thrill to have my family and several members of my Park City Toastmasters Club there to cheer me on. I was speaker number four out of five, and when I finished my speech, my son, Derrick, gave me a one-man standing ovation. Even though there were about 200 people in the room, no one stood but him during the applause right after my speech…and he didn’t care. The look on his face was sheer pride for his mom. It was truly a Mothers Day gift that will be hard to top—ever.
I will have pictures and a video of my speech later in the week (official press pics haven’t been released yet), but in the mean time I’m spending today fasting and um…purging. You see, two months ago I inadvertently scheduled a colonoscopy for tomorrow morning. By the time I figured it out it was too late to change it. What kind of idiot mom schedules a colonoscopy the day after Mothers Day? Uh, well, that would be me. So excuse me, I need to go take care of business. That’s the humbling dichotomy of being a mom—big winner on Saturday, prepping for a middle-aged procedure on Sunday.
For those of you NOT having colonoscopies tomorrow, have a happy, happy Mothers Day.
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Stacy Dymalski is a stand-up comic who gave up the glamorous life of coach travel, smokey comedy clubs, and heckling drunks for the glamourous life of raising kids (who happen to be bigger hecklers than the drunks). This blog is her new stage.
For more of Stacy’s comedy check out her hilarious book Confessions of a Band Geek Mom available in paperback and on Kindle on Amazon.com.