MEETING LISA KING.... and the rest of TOFW Sydney

I was like a groupie. It was embarrassing and exhilarating at the same time. I’m at Time Out For Women (TOFW) and it’s not like it’s my first time – I knew what to expect:

1.     Doors open at 8:15am:  Arrive at 6am for a good seat.

2.     If you dare to venture in the bookshop, armour up. Invest in some elbow pads, maybe a cricketers helmet to survive the stampede.

3.     The speakers are guaranteed to be awesome. There will be at least one gem spoken that I had  been preparing to hear, even if it cut to the bone. 

But I wasn’t expecting this.

My friend Vicki and I left home early, got to the venue and realized our tickets were left at home. So we did the return trip and made it in just in time. So, we didn’t get the good seats.  In the morning session we sat up in the steep seats, then moved to the ‘overflow’ side. During the lunch break, my kind friend Leah (who fed me too!) was one of the “staff” said there were spare seats by them near the front. SCORE!

As we sat down, the seat next to me was empty and I noticed the sign:

And that’s when the groupie gene kicked in. I’m pretty sure it was her sitting at the end of the row. Lisa is a woman of courage. I thanked her for sharing her story. I won’t even attempt to summarize it, but you can read it here. Go on, read it and come back - then you can picture me with my pointing finger - told you she is awesome! 

I did get a photo and it looks like I’m not cracking a smile, but she just let me shake her hand and hug her, so I’m part composing myself and part trying not to cry in front of her too much (again, the groupie gene). Plus I just told her it was more of a buzz to meet her than the speakers (did I say totally amazing speakers).

Other highlights for me:

·       Seeing the sister missionaries on stage and singing ‘As Sisters in Zion’ with the newly written lyrics. I saw a few of them get really emotional, overwhelmed by the love and I think for a few, a reminder of the importance of their part in the work.

·       Everyone dancing during one of Hillary’s songs, especially the little girl. I roared with laughter when Hillary saw her husband dancing “Does anyone else want to dance with my husband?” She’s a hoot!

·       The speakers were really amazing and I got pearls of wisdom from each of them. I’ll write more about that later. 

This is my second go at blogging. I got overwhelmed with trying to be funny, witty and write every single day. I definitely put too much pressure on myself. I realised it's been over 2 years since I started this blog! 

For me, TOFW has inspired me to do what I love the most, and that is to write. So, I’ve made a choice: Write when I can, when it suits me, when I am inspired, happy, angry,... whenever! 

I love the emotions of TOFW – I laughed, cried, drunk in the inspiration, did my groupie thing and felt joy as I met up with many friends that I haven’t seen for a while. It’s full of indescribable feelings that move you to the doing.

So let’s get to the doing. 

Higher & Better 

Amen.