Last night, I braved the rain (which we needed after a dry summer) and drove up to Johnstown to attend a Toastmasters meeting. This had been in the plans for me since I attended their online meeting back in April. I made my arrival a little before 6:30 and I was greeted warmly by the club. I even agreed to take on a role, talking about a personal victory that I had in my life. I would actually share three. This was the final segment before we adjourned.
That’s one of the things Johnstown does that I enjoy, along with the DTM download. This is where a member shares the best practices in a meeting. At our officer meeting tomorrow night, I will bring up my visit and talk about these and whether or not we can incorporate them into our agenda. With Greensburg having six DTM’s, why not talk about some of our things we do well in a meeting? TJ does an amazing job leading the Johnstown club as President (and representing our division at Division C Governor). Barb does an excellent job planning the upcoming meetings and, both kept us aware of the Base Camp outage that’s going to be occurring in October while the education program gets retooled.
As for the meeting, we had a great Toastmaster help us kick things off. Three amazing speakers were on the agenda. Barb talked about the importance of meetings and I even learned what the Cadillac of service dogs is. Cindi talked about plants and the GROW acronym she brought into the speech might get applied in a future speech of mine. It’s almost similar to the seasons I talked about in my Reflect on Your Path speech last Wednesday. Rachel (my Duolingo buddy) talked about a recent bad day she had and how one event can change how we think about that day. Barb’s table topic questions had us all laughing, as we tried to sell products from the advertisement of our choice. I tried to peddle cat litter (the club has some cat owners in it so it was an appropriate sell).
I can’t wax nostalgic about Johnstown without mentioning the Hiram G. Andrews Center. While I could have stayed home and gone to school at WCCC, my mom would have rather had me learn to be on my own. That’s why I attended HGA and eventually attended the local Community College. Even all of these years later, I still enjoy the city. Johnstown is always a nostalgia ride for me. Things may have changed, yet they still remain the same. Even though it’s been a quarter-century since I finished high school and started college, it still feels like yesterday. A day when I was a poor college student living off Ramen and microwavable Chef Boyardee pasta and free cafeteria food.
Driving up US 30 in the rain and fog past Ligonier and towards Jennerstown, up that mountain felt like old times. It reminded me of Columbus Day weekend in 2000 (my first year of college) when we drove up PA 271 and the snow was flying. That morning could have been a disaster but luckily, it was averted. What happened, you’re asking? I thought I left my keys at home.
Finally, yesterday was an anniversary of sorts for me. Five years ago, my gender nonconformity journey was born. It didn’t start that way, but it came to be. While it’s become its own thing now, it came to light on an overnight trip to Ashtabula.
My time at WIS saw some memorable trips during my time there. Twice in Marietta, that week in Kentucky, but none were more memorable than 2019. Chambersburg was relaxing; Erie was where I started the blog; and Mayfield Heights was forgettable. But Ashtabula was the most memorable. We went to dinner that night and someone decided to get all dressed up. Looking at “her” in her pink sundress, I felt very underdressed. Emily was one of the first to inspire me in my fashion journey because of her amazing fashion sense. Sara and Rae (my “sisters”) have had a hand in it too. The former became an innocent crush for me for the remainder of my time at WIS, even as we parted ways in 2021. When I told Maura and Ashley about my feelings a month later, they were very good listeners and understood me.
My gender nonconformity came to light in 2019 after years of being left in the dark. These feelings went on in my high school and college years and who knows how different things would be if I lived my best life then.
Stylish 🍒 