My Talk for the Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library

When one ages, is it common for one to become increasingly late to destinations?  I have always prided myself in arriving early to everywhere.  But it seems lately I am struggling to get myself in gear, and I don't like it.  At least it wasn't my fault yesterday.


My talk was scheduled for 2:00.  Church services begin at 11:00 on Sunday mornings and generally conclude a little after noon.  Not yesterday though.  Yesterday, we had baptismal services following our regularly schedule church service.  Now, I'm all for souls being saved and following the Lord in scriptural baptism.......especially when one of the individuals is the preacher's son.  But couldn't they have waited....just....one....more...week?  I asked the Lord to forgive me for such thoughts while beginning to sweat and fidget with my watch.  But then  I reminded myself that the Lord will always take care His children and relaxed before I wore my watch out.  Of course, I stayed for both services to celebrate this special occasion and then proceeded to fly home, pack the rest of my equipment that I hadn't already put in my car the night before, and sped to the Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library in Picayune, Mississippi.  I have given this talk in various parts of the country, but it is always a special honor to not only speak in my home state but also my home county of Pearl River.

I originally wanted to arrive by 1:15 but had to settle on 1:30.  There were a few folks present helping set out the refreshments.  It was a very nice looking....okay, pretty....display of finger foods and the like.  All I could do was to watch helplessly while I set up my stuff.  My stomach growled and cursed me for not being able to grab something to eat before racing out the door.  But my presentation....my performance for these folks......was more important.  So I promised tummy that we would get some chocolate peanut butter Haagen Dazs ice cream on the way home.  Adrenaline would deal with my hunger pangs in the meantime.

The Lord will always take care of you.......even when you're working with technology, which seems to provide a new adventure with every presentation.  My projector and PA system like to tag team on which one is going to be the source of my frustration.  It was the projector's turn yesterday.  I had turned it on to gauge the distance and size of the picture, and when I went to turn it off in order to flip it over so that I could adjust the leg on the bottom to raise it, a notice was displayed that the function was not available.  What??!!  Yeah, right.  There's more than one way to turn off a device. I smirked at the offending machine as I yanked the cord from the power strip.  I showed it.......at least until I tried to turn it back on.  I mashed (Southern for "pushed") the button and nothing happened.  I mashed it some more, glared at it for a while with my hands on my hips and was just about to throw it against the wall when I heard a soft "beep" and saw the bad lights stop blinking and the appropriate ones reappear.  I mashed the button one more time, and all was well in the world.  A perfect picture appeared and my blood pressure dropped.....at least until I got towards the end of my presentation.  I was cruising right along until some of my slides just went crazy.  Features on some of them didn't appear at all while others appeared when they shouldn't have.  But I just rolled with it and did some damage control.

I had another nice engaging crowd.  I saw lots of smiles, heard good laughter, and even saw a tear or two wiped away.  My presentation stirs all sorts of emotions within the attendees.  But thank goodness bitterness was not one of them this time.  No former judge labeling my work "BS" and a "fantasy" yesterday.  They asked a lot of questions and then afterwards headed over to the table with my gear.  Some came up to me and continued asking questions or shared stories of their relatives, which I enjoy hearing.  I was surprised by a few very nice gifts:  a tote bag, cookbook, and a box of chocolates.  All of which will be put to very good use.

They are selling copies of the cookbook as a fundraiser for their library.  If you'd like a copy, stop by the library or send a check made out to the Friends of the Crosby Memorial Library for $18 ($15 for the cookbook plus $3 for shipping) to: Library Heritage Cookbook, 900 Goodyear Blvd. Picayune, MS 39466, or call 601-798-5081 for more information. I thumbed through it, and it's very nicely done with over 700 recipes included.  You can read a little more about it and see a few pictures by clicking (HERE).

Speaking of pictures, I don't have any of my talk to share at this time because my beloved sidekick and biggest supporter was unable to accompany me. Thankfully, Mark will be with me next month when we head to Olive Branch, Mississippi.  If others took pictures and share them with me, I will post them to my Facebook page.  See the link above.

The head librarian asked for suggestions on books about women soldiers, and I pointed her to my reading list on my blog.  She said she would like to order some for the library, which absolutely delighted me.  Now, more people will be able to read about these extraordinary women.