On Humility...

I find myself in the oddest circumstances sometimes...so odd that I take photos of them to remind myself. When I came across these pictures this morning, I laughed out loud. Here's the story:

A couple of years ago, I was invited to speak to Soroptomists about a fundraiser I was involved with. They meet at a classroom at Wallowa Memorial Hospital. I had practiced my speech and hoped I could pull it off with aplomb.

When I took my place at the podium, in spite of the faces of the lovely women in the audience, this is what my eyes rested upon during the whole speech:
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As best I could, I followed my notes and stayed on topic, but in the back of my mind was a running commentary on this skeleton, and "Why was he laughing?" I became more self-conscious about my presentation and realized that at this time, I would not be the next orator of female fame like Margaret Thatcher or Hillary Clinton. No, maybe my talk would inspire like Winston Churchill or Ronald Reagan's speeches.

But with an amused skeleton in the background, I found it difficult to mentally grasp for some value in the words I was speaking.  With the eyes of the audience locked on me, at least it seemed like I was connecting to some degree.

At the end of the talk, my listeners applauded and asked questions, a sure sign that I had communicated well. I then turned around to leave and found this right behind me:

I mean right behind me. I started laughing and then the ladies started laughing, confessing they had been staring at it during my talk.

​Oh, well.

I have friends who say, "Katherine, you're too modest." But I'm really not. Because anytime I start thinking too highly of myself, things like this happen.

Cracks me up. (Did I just say "crack?")