I don’t even know how to put this weekend into words. But let’s all believe that I will now attempt to do that very thing as I ramble until I end up with approximately 1,000+ of them. I’d been looking forward to this past weekend for as long as I can remember and I came home feeling humbled, amazed, grateful, inspired, and exhausted.
That’s a lot to pack into one weekend. In fact, as I attempted to recount everything to P on Sunday night, I suddenly burst into tears for reasons I didn’t even understand. He just looked at me and said, “Wow. You are all hyped up on some estrogen after being around all those women.”
I don’t know if he’s ever been happier to be trapped on a couch with me as I share my feelings as he was at that moment.
So, let’s start from the beginning.
I was born in Houston, Texas on August 14, 1971.
Oh I kid. Although by the time I finish this post you may feel like my life story might be shorter.
On Thursday morning, my dad dropped me off at the airport for my flight to Birmingham. It was then that I realized I’d made a serious rookie mistake and forgotten to check in for my Southwest flight online. This resulted in a B 22 boarding pass which isn’t as bad as it could’ve been, but certainly isn’t ideal. But I breezed through security without any kind of inappropriate groping and that felt like a win. I stopped at Starbucks for the Grande Peppermint Mocha I’d been anticipating all morning, only to be told that they were out of peppermint. How does this happen? It’s Christmas time.
I boarded my flight and spent the next few hours reading all about Prince William and Kate Middleton, although she apparently wants to go by Catherine now. It looks like the wedding is going to be April 29 at Westminster Abbey and there is much debate about which tiara she’ll wear. I just thought you might want to know.
Also, I promise I’ll quit with all these meaningless details as I flounder for a storyline.
Once I arrived in Birmingham I checked into my hotel room and then headed to the arena to start my official event team duties even though I had no idea what those were and what I was doing. We spent the next few hours looking for walkie-talkies and pulling out reserved signs for various seats and getting things organized for the next day.
Later on I headed back to the hotel and Sophie came to pick me up for dinner. I’d thought we’d eat Mexican food, but we ended up going to eat at some fabulous restaurant downtown. It’s safe to say I’d tell you the name of it if I could remember. I just know I ate some pasta that changed my life and a tiramisu I’ll remember when I’m on my deathbed.
Friday was filled with putting signs on seats and filling gift bags and making sure the merch (love the merch!) was all ready to go. I’m sure there were other things involved but I was too busy walking around asking, “What am I supposed to be doing? Do I need to be somewhere?”
Bless their hearts, they decided to give me a walkie-talkie anyway. Probably because they knew I was going to be in dire need of guidance and direction.
My official role was Greeter Assist. Which means I was in charge of the volunteers at one of the arena entrances and had to fake an air of confidence and authority. Fortunately this is part of my skill set. It’s how I rolled for ten years as a pharmaceutical rep. “ABSOLUTELY NOT! THIS DRUG DOESN’T INTERFERE WITH THE CYP450 METABOLISM!”
Anyway, the doors opened at 5:30 and that’s about the last time I had a coherent thought that day. CRAZY TOWN.
On Saturday morning, Betsy (our LifeWay event team leader) told us to be packed and downstairs at 6:25. In the morning. The good news is I’d managed to get about four minutes of sleep the night before so I was ready to go with my bloodshot eyes and feet that felt like I’d walked on a bed of nails.
I went back to my post as Greeter Assist until the crowd died down and I found Kelly and Heather holding my contraband Starbucks. That Grande dose of caffeine may have been what saved me. It certainly was the only thing that gave me strength to work the merch tables selling $2.00 t-shirts.
But, seriously, I’ve attended a lot of LifeWay events over the last three years. However, I’ve never done the event team thing and I had NO IDEA what all goes into the entire thing. They work so hard to make the whole thing come together and the thing that impressed me the most was that everyone just does what needs to be done. (In editing this, the other thing that should impress me is the number of times I used the word “thing” in the last two sentences.) No one says that something isn’t their job or they’re too busy. They just go. And they have fun while they do it. I’d never met the majority of women on the team, but I loved every one of them by the end of the weekend.
Okay, so the other component of the weekend was a Compassion Bloggers’ Reunion. Amanda worked with Shaun Groves to organize a reunion of all the bloggers that have been on various Compassion trips. They all attended Deeper Still, but I didn’t really get to see any of them during the event because none of them were in line buying $2.00 t-shirts.
But Compassion hosted a dinner on Saturday night for all of us. So after the event ended, I changed out of my green Deeper Still t-shirt and into something a little more dinner-ish. (I don’t know what that means.) And then Kelly, Amanda, Heather and I piled into Sophie’s car in search of some caffeine and a place to kill a little time since the dinner didn’t start for another hour.
Which is how we ended up parked on a street in downtown Birmingham drinking various soft drinks from McDonalds. Sophie knows how to show some girls a good time. And she pretty much summed it up when she said, “Who would have ever thought I’d be parked in front of the McWane Center with a car full of people I met on the internet?”
We laughed and talked and told stories about our kids and other various things until we were crying and laughing. Then it was time to head to dinner at Cafe DuPont.
I could tell you about the restaurant and how much I loved it and how the dessert changed all my preconceived notions about the wisdom in combining cheesecake with acorn squash. (IT TURNS OUT THAT IT’S SO RIGHT AND GOOD.)
But none of that is the most important thing. The thing that mattered to me were the people in that room. The people whose words I’ve read and cried over and have been such an inspiration to me. (I honestly think I might have frightened Ann Voskamp a little. She is so graceful and beautiful and I went a little FAN GIRL on her.)
Steve Jones, who works for Compassion and went to the Dominican Republic with my group, stood up at dinner and told us that 5,000 kids have been sponsored through the Compassion blog trips. 5,000 little lives. I have no idea what part of that number is mine. It may be just one for all I know. (This is where I want to tell that story of the starfish on the beach but I will stop myself because seriously.)
It made me cry to hear that number. To be among people who took time out of their daily lives to write words that have ultimately led to impacting 5,000 lives. It’s humbling and it makes me want to do more and to live a life with purpose.
(Not that talking about the Real Housewives on the internet isn’t purposeful. Because, OF COURSE.)
Anyway, I have no way to wrap all this up in any kind of adequate way. It was just a great weekend filled with fun and friends and laughter and tears and so much more that will probably have to be another post at some point when I have the words.
So, for now, I’ll just leave you with this picture from the Compassion dinner. You’d think that after the weekend I had that I’d have a whole slew of pictures. But that would have involved taking my camera out of my purse.
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Melanie, don’t ever quit telling the starfish story! I could tell it every day and not get tired of it. In fact, I have to tell it pretty frequently, since my one and only tattoo, a post-graduation give to myself two and a half years ago, is a big ol’ starfish on my left foot!
Look at you all cute in your dress/tunic over jeans! Loved your post. Always my fave blog to read – every day 🙂
5000!!! Yeah, that’s a little sob-worthy. You guys are awesome.
Loving God, loving others- God knows just what we need! (with a little Starbucks thrown in for good measure! 🙂 )
My daughter just threw a reference out to the starfish story on her facebook page-that story never gets old!
Sounds completely fabulous…what a great way to usher in the Christmas season!
Cute outfit!! Sounds like a great weekend, walkie talkie and all. 😉
Thank you SO much for taking the time to write out your story. And honestly, I could’ve read a thousand more words (but that’s it) and been happy. That 5,000 is just plain AWESOME, and I’m sooooo excited to see what else God has for you to do. I have a feeling it’s pretty darn cool.
1 – How did I miss the starfish story?
2 – Even though I missed it, I am sure once I hear it, I will want to put a starfish on the top of my Christmas tree.
3 – 5,000 is amazing – just eat 5,000 pretzel m&ms and that’ll put it in perspective!
I think I will check out this Ann Voskamp book. I am really bad about generally only reading fiction books. Your recommendations are very helpful!
First of all, LOVE P’s comment about the estrogen. It’s awesome how those husbands can kind of jolt us back into reality with a one-liner. ; ) Also, it is HEINOUS for a Starbuck’s to run out of peppermint in DECEMBER!!!!!
The weekend sounded fabulous. How amazing and blessed to be part of such an event (more like a “movement”). Keep up the great work!
This whole post made me smile. As did your outfit in the pic. And P’s comment about estrogen.
Completely agree with Amy’s comment!
Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet… I’m on repeat.
But I’m SO jealous. How wonderful to have a job that allows you to do such amazing things. Maybe if I read this over and over I will convince myself that I was actually there. Yeah?
1) Loved seeing YOU :).
2) You ROCKED the walkie-talkie! (Whether or not you could actually use it is a whole ‘nother thing, but you looked like you knew exactly what you were doin’.)
3) Ima gonna have to quote you in the post I’m writing.
4) Betcha wouldn’t have guessed but I really, really wanted to have a sit down real conversation with you…but how, ya know??? 🙂
You make me smile.
I love your blog! I check it daily to see what you have written. What a fun weekend! Thank you for sharing your life stories.
500 lives. beautiful.
Love your blog, and just so you know I sponsored a child thru Compassion because of YOU and reading your story on your blog. I also forwarded your blog story to friends and family who had never heard of Compassion or Big Mama and they too signed up to sponsor children. Glad to hear that you had a great weekend!
I loved seeing you again and for you and Patricia to finally meet. Something tells me the two of you will find yourselves together in some foreign place telling stories into the wee hours of the night in the not so distant future. I wish we all lived closer. And for the record, just as Courtney pointed out, you are responsible for a lot more than 1 of those 5,000.
I was so happy you came over to see the nervous farm girl — I don’t think I could have mustered up enough courage and I so wanted to say what a FAN I am. You light a room, the page, and I could read another 55,000 of your words — a whole book. Please?
I’m rooting with you…
And I felt like the conversation only got started…
I MUST agree with Ann – you need to write a book. Or maybe, I need you to write a book. I love your way with words. You and Ann are definitely my two favorite writers.
I love Ann too. I acted a fool last year at PW book singing, I will never be able to look her in the eye when I win a trip to the lodge.
my parents have traveled all over the united states. I to would show you pictures if they remembered to take their camera with them or if they did, they never used it.
You make me laugh like crazy! I love your blog. I have been following you for about a month now and your blog is a must read. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your weekend with us 🙂
I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed getting to hang out with you and Sophie. I feel like I’ve know y’all both forever!!! Even if I just met you on the internet. ha!
And I also can’t quit thinking about that acorn squash cheesecake and the irony of how good it was. 🙂
Loved meeting you, if only for a second. Can’t wait until our Texas reunion this Spring in Round Top!
Melanie,
I was at Deeper Still this weekend in Birmingham (I live in Auburn) and wondered if you were there!!!! I used to read your blog a lot more often but with the birth of my third child, have not had the time! I actually asked a girl who I thought looked like you if she had a blog…turned out she didn’t! 😉 I can’t believe you were actually there!! This is the first time I’ve been back to your blog in months…sorry 😉
It was so interesting to read your account about the event team and what your responsibilities entailed. What an incredible weekend! I came away inspired, renewed, and encouraged. Thank you for your hard work and ministry.
~Lisa
Oh man, they really needed to institute some kind of speed dating rules at that dinner to be sure we all rotated and got time to talk to everyone. Because I don’t think I got my alloted time with you! 🙂
Thank you for just glowing joy and sharing it with the rest of us.
Lisa-Jo
Was it the Hot and Hot fish house? I’ve heard that’s awesome. Wish I could have made that event. Maybe when I finish school next year I can do stuff like that (I’m 48 and trying to finish college – my brain/body just won’t take anything else now). I was just thinking last night about the little girl you sponsor, and how sad she was when you were down there. Is she doing better? Keep up the good work.
I have SO loved reading everyone’s blogs about this past weekend. How awesome is our God!?!!!
First of all, you are TWO days younger then me. NOT fair!!!! Now can I say how jealous I am of your weekend. Wow, not only to meet all those beautiful woman but to be behind the scenes and upfront at one of those events. Oh my.
i love thiS here poSt!!
What iS THE StarfiSh Story?
Looks like someone didn’t get the memo about wearing black and gray in the front row. 🙂 Love that outfit.
So glad to hear about your weekend….and 5000! That’s fabulous!
We learned our lesson on the Southwest online check-in when I was the last person to find a seat on a very full plane one time. The last seat available was between 2 very large people that happened to be married….and didn’t like each other!! 🙁
So happy that you got to have such a wonderful experience. Been doing Beth’s studies for years, but only recently went to one of her conferences in Lowell, MA. It was wonderful and she was SO CUTE with the New Englanders….
“Y’all, this is as low key as I could get my hair, and I can’t promise it won’t get bigger tomorrow.”
“Lord, for anyone that is offended by my personality, please move them past me to you.”
There was laughter each time, and this Texas gal just loved her all the more for putting it all out on the table to laugh about and set everyone at ease.
OH! and I had never heard Travis Cotrell…only references to him on your blog and other Beth Moore stuff. (SO out of the loop here!)
Oh. My. He was incredible.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season.
Just wanted you to know that your blog inspired me years ago to sponsor a Compassion child, and today I couldn’t be more grateful. There’s no doubt He’s working through your words, Melanie! From laughter to tears in two sentences- I love every letter. Please keep it coming 🙂