The Ice Breaker

To our left is a relic of the past. It dates back to June 10, 2004, from my first speech with Toastmasters; a club devoted to developing communication and leadership skills.

http://www.toastmasters.org/

When you join Toastmasters you receive a manual of 10 speech projects. Each one is designed to develop your speaking skills one step at a time. Project 1 is "The Ice Breaker". You are suppose to choose aspects of your life that will give your fellow club members insight and understanding of you. The name of my ice breaker was..."Adventure".

If you had a chance to read my last post, I mentioned that I met my husband at a Memorial Weekend Party in 2004. Less than two weeks later(we spent every day together) I invited him to come see my first speech for this club. The night before the speech I wrote this definition of adventure on a small piece of paper for each audience member. Then I burned the edges to make it look like it was part of a treasure map. My goal was to let the audience know my fergitude on life. I wanted to share how I viewed my life as this phenomenal ongoing odyssey and that they too were on their own adventure. I told each of them that they were their own version of Indiana Jones. Six years later, here I am doing my first blog on the same thing. Wow. Coincidence...I don't think so.

I didn't know what I was getting into with writing this blog, but with each entry I discover treasure. I feel so much right now, I just do not quite know how to say it. This endeavor has already been enlightening, and very worth it. Maybe down the road I will be better able to convey it. For now, I'll use an analogy. When you think of any of our adventurers(Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Quartermain, Jason Bourne, William Wallace, the Goonies, Bastian from The Neverending Story, Sherlock Holmes), once they decide/realize their purpose(destination, mission, duty, passion, goal) many wonders, opportunities, and realizations start to unfold before them. Well...that is kinda what I'm feeling right now.

The piece of paper above belongs to my husband. He has kept it these six years in a special place that it was only removed from just long enough to take the picture. He said that once I finished that speech June 10, 2004 that I had sealed my fate. He was going to keep me forever. This man, my husband is amazing. As you may know from my last post, I consider him to be one of the most precious "jewels" I have discovered in my journey. For the record, it was he who came up with the word, Fergitude.