Tuesday brought nice weather and our Laurel Highlands Toastmasters. The theme was “Bloom Where You’re Planted. We had three speakers (Nick pinch hit and put together a quick speech to present as he replaced Ryan). I’m in the final level of Presentation Mastery and I did the Professional Speaking project. I talked about my health journey and latest sleep apnea diagnosis. I’ll be presenting that speech again on Wednesday night at Greensburg.
Monday’s visit to the doctor went well. It feels like a crazy stretch with appointments and getting ready for Spring Conference. Plus, it has been unsettled and damp (kind of how May ended last year). The visit was good. I’ve been doing better with taking my blood pressure. There is some promising news, and that was being down ten pounds since my last visit.
The damp, unsettled weather pattern gives way to a very summerlike pattern early next week. I’ll definitely be ordering an iced coffee at Cutie’s Monday night for Bible Study. We are flipping the switch from damp and cool to sunny and warm like that. Thus, welcome to Pittsburgh in May. It’s not out of the question we may even see 90 early in the week. It will be nice to be above average though after being damp and chilly. Summer begins on June 21.
Is it too soon to open the pool? Maybe.
Is it time to get out the shorts? Yes.
Back to Laurel Highlands. We had a few guests at our meeting on Tuesday night. The President of Country Roads Toastmasters (chartered last June) led our Table Topics session. Our in person guest liked what she saw at the meeting and may be a prospective member. She took part in the impromptu speaking session as well. Our Area 23 Director did her official visit and offered some suggestions to grow our membership by June 30 to get to Distinguished.
Our next meeting on May 26 is also when we’ll be nominating new officers for the 2026-27 Toastmasters year. I put my hat into the ring for Vice President Education at Laurel Highlands (I had also expressed interest in being President). Don’t know what the slate of officers looks like for Greensburg, but if Education is open I’ll take it. I might be interested in following Mr Imes’ lead from a couple of years ago. He served the role at both Laurel Highlands and Western Maryland.
The race between which club was getting Presidents’ Distinguished first last year was a fun one. Gary and Autumn are awesome and both are passionate about Toastmasters.
Following this weekend’s Spring Conference, our final three meetings are scheduled for May 26, June 9 and 23. On the second date, I’m looking to visit South Hills Toastmasters. That’s my vacation week which is getting oh so close. I hope to touch base with some South Hills members this weekend.
I’ve experienced a lull in my fitness journey this week, and for good reason. It’s been a busy week leading up to this weekend’s events. Just counting down the hours tonight until I’m off the next three days. I’ll be back at it early next week (maybe Sunday if I feel lucky). As the weather trends more seasonal later in the week, I’d like to make time for some outdoor walks as well.
But after hearing the news that I’m down 10 lbs., could a weight loss journey be in my future?
In closing, I was thinking about Tuesday night’s theme, “Bloom Where You’re Planted”.
To me, this means to thrive in the environment that you are put in. It may not be the perfect college or the perfect job, but you make the most of it. It may not seem like much, but it could blossom into a stepping stone down the road.
Let’s travel back to the early 2000’s, when I started college at the Hiram G. Andrews Center. I had friends from high school who were enrolled at IUP and Slippery Rock as well as Pitt and Penn State (and their satellite campuses). With time though, I learned to bloom at Hiram G. Andrews Center and the local community college. Later on, that experience blossomed into Slippery Rock.
Later in the 2000s, upon graduating from college, I started my first job at Kings. For years, I never thought of it as much. Now, I look at it as the fact that I started on a path and seeing what worked for me. If I had a better attitude, maybe I could have stuck it out in the food service industry a few more years.
Stylish 🍒 