Just a Small Town Girl

Hello and welcome! A friend of mine messaged me a couple of months ago and asked me if I would speak at the Wall of Change ceremony at his work. He works in the probation office in the town where I live. The individuals receiving the Wall of Change awards have made significant improvement and progress to live on a better and more impactful path than they were on. He said he thought it would be great to talk about how I’ve overcome obstacles in my life, and how I’ve kept going, even when it’s been tough to do so. I told him that I would be glad to come and speak. 

I had been so busy leading up to this speech, and in the back of my mind I thought I’d just use one of my other speeches I’ve written. I figured I had something in my library of speeches that could work. However, when I started to prepare for it, and looked through my speeches, I felt like none of them were the right fit. I also thought to myself, I’m not sure I’m the right fit for this speech. I kept trying to figure out why he had chosen me to speak. I hadn’t led the life they had, my difficulties were very different. I was struggling to see how they would be able to gain anything motivating from what I would say. I also knew it would be a more intimate environment than I have been speaking in. In my opinion, it’s much easier to speak to a huge crowd than to speak to a smaller crowd where people are closer. However, our friend Paul felt confident in me, so I thought, ok let’s do this! 

I wrote the speech a few days before, and while ultimately I was still telling my story that I typically share, there were pieces of it I added in this time that felt right to do so that I don’t often share. Although I practiced it, I still felt a little bit of anticipation of, what if they don’t connect with my message? I knew it was a very important night to them, and Paul had told me the last speaker at this event had been a fighter pilot who was a Blue Angel. Hard act to follow! 

I arrived at the event and got settled in. There was a picture and a bio of each of the award recipients. I read the first one and felt more at ease, then read each of the others. I was blown away at the connection I felt to each of their stories. There was a piece in each of them that resonated with me. I got emotional thinking that this was not a mistake that I was there speaking, but just another carefully orchestrated piece of my path. 

I delivered my speech in the intimate setting, and felt nothing but compassion and acceptance. I had to fight back the tears as I spoke and looked at these men in the audience with their proud family members by their sides. Among others in the crowd were a few of our county Judges, a wonderful man from the Wheeler Mission that had been a pivotal part of one the gentleman’s lives and many other employees who had been a part of their successes. 

There I was, just a small town girl in her hometown, willing to share my story, humbly courageously. Most of us are “small potatoes” I suppose in the eyes of many. That doesn’t matter though. Most people want to connect with others who maybe haven’t necessarily walked their same path, but can connect in some way to the difficulties in life, and feeling victorious when we reach the other side of those difficulties. It was a special evening that touched my heart. Seeing the humble pride felt by these gentlemen will forever be in my heart. 💚

My beautiful town square 💚