Overcomer

It was back in August when I received the big, bad binder.  It held the information I needed to chair an event held at our elementary school.  When the previous chairperson handed it to me I smiled, listened to her instructions, and then felt my insides melt!  I was so scared.

Ridiculousness, I tell you.

First, let me tell you a little bit about the PTA Reflections program.

Each year a theme is chosen nationwide.  This year's theme was, "Believe, Dream, Inspire."
If your child chooses to participate they can create an original piece of work related to the theme in one of six categories...
Visual Art, Photography, Film Production, Dance Choreography, Musical Composition, and Literature.

My job included rallying the students to participate, sending home paperwork, collecting and sorting the entries, finding judges for each category, ordering awards, hosting an award ceremony, and organizing a reward show for all the participants.

By the start of the school year I was a nervous wreck.  Paralyzed with fear is how I would describe it.  But because I have so much admiration for the program (and there was no way for me to get out of it) I trudged on.  Every single person in my life heard me complain and worry about this gig.  They are probably more glad it's over than I am.

So, the reason for the title of this blog post?  I did it.  I overcame my fear.  I didn't necessarily enjoy it, but I did learn a lot!

Power point-check.
Word document-check.
Save artwork to disk-check.
Get up on stage and talk in microphone-check.

All of those things I had never done before.  

I had a lot of people praying for me.  I also had my number one fan hold me up and help me with all of the computer stuff....Bill, I couldn't have survived it without you.  Thank you!  The real question is, how did you survive it with me?

The top five winners in each category go on to be judged at the regional level, then possibly to the state level, and perhaps even to the national level.

My 3 favorite entries are below.

Tommy- Photography entry titled Fight For Your Country.

Ann- Photography entry titled Build Your Dreams.

Matthew- Visual Arts titled My Dad, My Hero.

Tomorrow I drop off the winning entries to the person in charge of the next step.  I am so relieved to be done.  Back in August I said I would never put myself through this again.  But when I saw those entries come in - Kindergarteners thru 5th graders - and saw their interpretation of the theme,  I was  inspired.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd sign up to do it again, but I believe I will now that I can see all the rewards in doing it.

That, along with the fact that holding that microphone gave me a bit of a rush!