Yesterday was Benny’s graduation party which my aunt held at her church. In attendance was a nice mix of family, friends, and teachers. The event was catered and the spread was exceptional. Lots of food and we wondered what would become of the leftovers. Just like lunch on Saturday at TLI, it was picnic food. Yesterday, it was pierogies and macaroni and cheese. We also had cupcakes as well as cookies (the latter being from our local Sam’s Club).
We watched Benny open some of his graduation gifts. My mom did an exceptional job wrapping Benny’s gift. The comic strip wrapping paper takes me back to many birthday parties when Gramma Gaffron would wrap our gifts that way. We didn’t go home without taking home some of the leftover food as there were plenty of hamburgers and hot dogs to go around.
Taking away a couple more things I learned at Saturday’s TLI, we have a week left before the year ends on June 30. That’s seven days to find one or two new members and talk to them about Toastmasters. Also, your meeting room gets double booked and you have to have your meeting in the actual restaurant. What do you do? You improvise and still run your meeting. The end result is that you can definitely reach a few people and get them interested in coming to a meeting and eventually joining your club.
Looking ahead to 2024-25, I know that I can definitely do better and that means taking advantage of all of the resources available on the Toastmasters International website. I’ll also view the dashboards to look at the progress we’re making in the Distinguished Club program. I really want to familiarize myself with it when it comes up in conversation. I also want to refer to the Club Success Plan and the Moments of Truth to hold myself accountable. Doing that little exercise at the end of the training on Saturday really familiarized me with the Club Success Plan.
What’s kept me from being consistent in my path and speaking even though I’ve been involved in Toastmasters and attending meetings? I got my Distinguished Toastmaster award in late 2019. All was looking good at the beginning of the next year and we know what happened next. In addition to the craziness going on in the world, I had a health scare in early 2021. Later that year came the big career change, going from WIS to Giant Eagle.
Being online is nice when you want to attend different clubs across the country and the world. I think now that I have a laptop, online meetings are going better for me. I could have invested in a stand for my iPad or iPhone too but didn’t think of it at the time. I also would have benefited from taking a hiatus sometime around the pandemic up until I figured out my new routine with Giant Eagle. But I’d have stayed in the loop.
I’m on my way to Slippery Rock this afternoon to check out my alma mater and gain another new perspective on my life since college. You’ll read about that in my blog. Before that, I will be attending the Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters meeting. I’ll be having a late lunch at North Country Brewing in town and then walk the campus. You’ll see some pics as well (from my phone and my camera). Also, I’ll have a review of my dining experience at “the Brewery”.
Stylish 🍒 