It was so easy to agree to blog about this event in order to win 2 free tickets from BookSneeze. However, it may be difficult to verbalize all that I experienced during the past two days.
First Impressions and Thoughts:
- 20,000 women in the same building? Really? This is a really big concept to get your head around.
- Did you know that 20,000 women can actually sing together and sound beautiful as if they had practiced many times?
- This turned out to be some of the best “people watching” I have experienced.
- The Women of Faith organization is a class act through and through and prepared for everything.
- So glad I decided that a taxi to/from the event was a better idea than parking and walking in this heat and being in the traffic gridlock.
- How do I manage getting to/from the restroom without stopping at the food vendors with high calorie goodies?
The seating on Friday morning and afternoon is open. My step-daughter Nikki chose some great seats for us on the 1st row of the Plaza level. No seats in front of us, lots of leg room and great view. We sat there a long time with no one around us. A group of ladies finally arrived and asked if these seats were saved or if they could sit there. We said we had been saving the seats for them. One of the ladies in the group said we needed to be surrounded by brown sugar sisters. Well, she was right. We had a great time visiting and sitting with these ladies. I find it is always fun to meet new people and this was no exception. One of the sessions on Friday afternoon was a Q&A facilitated by Mary Graham with Patsy Clairmont and Andy Andrews. Patsy and Andy both have great senses of humor so they were entertaining from the beginning. But they both were so thoughtful and giving with their answers. This was my favorite session Friday.
Friday evening it was time to find our ticketed seats and settle in for more awesomeness. Our seats placed us next to Angela and her husband Kennedy. Angela was another blogger-winner of BookSneeze tickets to the event. And yes, her second ticket went to her husband. He was one of the few men among a sea of women. I think he took this opportunity to spend time with his wife in Dallas leaving their 7 children with family in Houston. Seems like a pretty smart move to me. After initial introductions and settling in, Angela asked what I do. I told her I was a consultant and described what I do. She asked if my work was local or involved travel. I told her I often travel and at one time traveled almost every week. Kennedy asked “Your husband lets you do that?” Poor man, he had not idea what he had done. My very quick response was “He doesn’t have any say in the matter.” I wish I had a picture of the look on his face. I felt sorry that I had answered so abruptly as I certainly didn’t want to offend him.
I explained that I was very lucky in that my husband has no problem with my career choice. This is a lesson to everyone that good marriages come in many different forms. His wife quickly pointed out to him that many of the ladies that would be presenting and singing at this event were married, some with children still at home and that they traveled many weekends a year. I think it took him awhile to get a grasp on that. Friday evening was great. More great words of wisdom and fabulous music.
It is 10pm. Past my bedtime and Nikki and I need to find a cab. Back at the hotel my mind is still wide awake. I need to go to sleep now! Tomorrow starts really early. What will the day hold?
