Positively Overwhelmed

Observant ones may notice it's been a few days since my last post. That's not to say I haven't had plenty on my mind and schedule...au contraire. In the mostly pleasant manner of happenstance, I have found myself a bit busier than previously but also more energized by the tasks keeping me occupied: After a couple of rounds of short-term sleep deprivation, I assure you i would agree in a heartbeat to help out at a nearby disaster relief shelter again, though I would prefer advance notice rather than landing there for overnight duty after a full workday and commute. For the first time in a long time, i felt like my presence really made a difference for someone (and was told so as well). I witnessed an outpouring of love and concern in the community I haven't seen in decades. i met people who had lost their worldly possessions and their homes, but demonstrated rich character and family commitment not only to their blood relatives but to the new "family" and community that developed in that fire hall. If you've never experienced that, you owe yourself and the world to learn one of those stories.

As if that weren't enough, we're in contest season and there are many Toastmasters with whom to connect this week! I attended our obligatory (but fun and informative) leadership breakfast and DEC meeting this past Saturday and an area contest meeting on Sunday. Tonight (well, last night, now--it's after midnight) I attended a club contest meeting; Thursday I host my area contest meeting; Saturday I will attend another area contest meeting; and the following Saturday I will assist with the Division contest. Then it's just a few short weeks till the DISTRICT CONFERENCE, which will be hosted in my current home town (yay no hotel fee for me--I'll hang for a bit but then i'm walking home, folks...i'll try to clean again before then in case someone needs a place to crash, but there won't be any wild after-hours parties there. We'll need that three hours of sleep).

I'm also looking forward to a lifelong friend's wedding during peak season for fall foliage in the Finger Lakes, and did I mention, I still hold a full-time job where I'm taking on extra duties? Then there's these books I want to write...It's a good thing that sleep, for me, is mandatory every couple of days, or i'd be unstoppable.