Summit

Today I had a super-fun Mary Kay conference what that is named Summit.  Only it wasn't just any conference because I got to speak.  I got to speak about my tip to New York.  What does Mary Kay have to do with Kesk and I going to New York, you ask?  Well, I'm going to tell you.  Only I'm going to tell you by letting you read my speech.  This works out for me in a couple of ways.  First of all, you get the story and secondly, I have a record of my speech.  I want to make sure I document this because it was such a powerful, important thing for me.  Before you get to read my speech I think I should introduce you to my Mary Kay friends that will read about.  The first photo is of me and my Amy friend.  I think you are probably acquainted with her and how much I love her guts.

Then there is my Laurie friend.  She's sure a good egg.

And finally, Julianne.  She is the one that I actually have to thank for my most fabulous trip and a present she gave me, as you will soon see.

Now for the speech--

Good afternoon! When Julianne asked me to speak to you today about the power of a dream I felt deeply honored, a lot inadequate, but mostly I felt terrified. I just hope you can hear my heart today incase my words don’t come out the way my heart would like them too.

A little about me and my journey is that I started my MK business about a year and a half ago. I was, and still am, an 8th grade English teacher. There are a couple of reasons I decided to start. The first one is Amy Haider. In addition to being my director she is also a coworker and best friend. Back before she was my director and had just started her own MK business, she invited me to her parties. Of course I went because I’m pretty sure I’m her number one fan, and I wanted to support her. Which on a side note, actually brings me to my second reason for starting MK…every time I went to one of Amy’s events, Laurie Ashby would give me a call to follow up. After 9 months of telling Laurie no, I decided that if I signed maybe she’d quit calling me. Boy was I wrong about that! I really can’t shake her now. Truthfully, I’m just teasing Laurie a bit because I liked her so much I actually looked forward to Laurie calling. Looking back, I realize that if you can call someone repeatedly for 9 months to follow-up and they still look forward to the call, you are pretty much amazing. However, before Laurie wore me down I had no intention of ever becoming a consultant until the day Amy came to work and told me that she decided she was really going to do this MK thing for real and quit teaching school. If there is one thing that I cannot abide by it is being left behind or left out. I was not going to be left in that Jr. High alone while Amy played with makeup. I guess it’s true that when you can’t beat ‘em, you join ‘em. What I know for sure about all of that is that starting my MK business has been one of the most important decisions of my life. I have experienced immeasurable personal growth, come to recognize my strengths, and have had the opportunity to work on my weaknesses. 

One of the greatest things I’ve learned is the power of a dream. I find it ironic that I’m speaking today about that because before MK I’d never dared to dream. I was raised with scarcity mentality. My focus was always on what I didn’t have instead of what I wanted. Surviving from day to day was enough. However, when I started MK everyone seemed to be obsessed with dreams and goals and they always wanted to know what mine were. Since I honestly couldn’t wrap my head around what that really meant, I’d just make something up that sounded good. Then one day last December just making one up to didn’t work out so much for me. I was on my way to St. George for the futurity trip and I had the chance to ride for a while with Julianne. Practically before we got out of the parking lot she began to talk to me about my dreams. I didn’t know what to say. Dreams were frivolous things for people who could afford them. Only apparently, I was wrong. Julianne was having none of that, and I’m not so sure she would have let me out of the car until I had a dream that I could get excited about. That is the first step to building a dream—it must be something from your heart. This was tough for me because I had to push aside years of scarcity mentality—years of thinking that I never had enough, and I had to start thinking in terms of abundance, because I found that dreams don’t come cheap. Julianne and I threw around a couple of ideas, but nothing spoke to me until the heavens opened up and choirs of angels began to sing. You think I’m kidding, but I swear I heard them singing and the songs they sang were from the musical Wicked! One thing I knew I wanted to do more than anything was to see that play and see it on Broadway in NY. 

Now that I actually had a dream that I was excited about I thought I was done. Julianne would be happy with that, right? Come to find out, I was wrong about that too. She started asking me pesky detail questions that forced me to really envision what that dream would look like for me. One of the things she wanted to know was who I would take with me. I have a friend that is a little bit obsessed with Wicked like me, and I knew that she was the one who needed to go with me. It was something she would probably never do for herself, but it was a gift that I could give to her. 

Now, let’s be clear ladies…I don’t know how many of you have ever ridden with Julianne or in a car like hers, but you are eyeball to eyeball in that thing, breathing the very same air. Personal space is not an option. In that kind of environment you’ll commit to most anything. You’ll commit because who wants to be disagreeable with someone you are sitting that close to in a car that is going 90 mph? I sure didn’t and so even though I never believed that I’d really go to NY, I sure as heck told Julianne that I would. Only too bad for me, because I was officially in the dream making business and Julianne was not going to let me forget it. Which brings us to another crucial part of making your dreams come true—you must tell someone about it! If no one else knows what your dream is, you probably won’t accomplish it. It’s so easy for us to let ourselves off the hook when things get difficult. However, someone else expecting you to do it is a strong motivator. In my case Julianne wasn’t the only one who knew because if I remember correctly, and I do, she promptly told everyone in the continental United States. 

The next step and by far the scariest one for me was telling my friend that I was planning on taking her to NY to see Wicked. That is truly the point of no return. Someone else knowing is important, but if your dream involves your family or friends, you must commit to them too. It’s a lot harder to disappoint the ones you love. A couple of weeks after that fateful drive with Julianne I gave my friend 3 boxes for Christmas. Since Wicked is about the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda from The Wizard of Oz, she got a witch hat in one box with some clever poem I wrote, a broom in the other with another clever poem, and in the 3rd box was a copy of the itinerary of our trip, a NY photo album, a NY calendar to count down the days, and of course another clever poem. I’m pretty sure there was a 30 second period where she didn’t breathe. To be honest, I wasn’t breathing either. What had I done? 

Something I learned real quick about dreams is that they require a lot of planning! They don’t just happen. I had to do quite a bit of homework if this was going to work. I had to find out how much it was all going to cost and then figure out how I was going to pay for it. I had to research airfare, hotel, Wicked ticket prices, the cost of the tourist attractions that we’d want to see, food and cab money and of course shopping money. Since I didn’t have a few thousand dollars hanging around I had to break it all down month by month and week by week. I figured I needed an extra $300 a month. Really, that was only 6 miracle sets or a few extra parties a month. When you break it down like that, it feels less overwhelming and more obtainable. I set up a NY savings account that I did not touch unless it was for NY. The first thing I bought were the Wicked tickets. A couple of months later I got our airfare. Next came the hotel. 

Bit by bit my dream became a reality, and on October 18, 2009 at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, to be exact, I was sitting 5th row back, center section of the Gershwin Theater in NYC living my dream. Even though my friend and I had been in NY for a couple of days, it wasn’t until that moment that it really hit me that I can accomplish whatever I want. I felt so proud of myself because for the first time in my life I set a huge goal and I hung in there and did it. I think we frequently worry about trusting other people, but for the first time ever I realized that I could trust myself. I did what I said I would do. It also hit me in that theater that I did not do this alone, and I was so grateful for all those that helped me along the way. Lest you believe my journey was all smiles and fluffy bunnies, know that there were many bumpy days where I wanted to give up. But, here’s the good news: because I was surrounded by positive people that loved and believed in me, when those times came I had my own cheering section. You cannot achieve a dream without these people. In fact, if you surround yourself with Debbie Downers I dare say that when you feel discouraged you will give up for sure because Debbie Downers will only pull you down more. On the days I thought I must be crazy for thinking I could take someone to NY, I would inevitably get an email from Julianne asking me how it was going and telling me how awesome I was. However, on a day to day basis I relied heavily on my MK friends and director like Amy and Laurie and even Deanna was checking in on me. They have dried more than their fair share of my tears. On the flip side, it also meant the world to me that they weren’t just there for my bumps and bruises, they were always the first ones there to help me celebrate my successes. YOU HAVE GOT TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN YOU! Involve your directors because they are just itching to see you grow and succeed, and conveniently enough, they actually know how to get you there. 

I don’t know how many of you have seen the play Wicked or are familiar with the music, but there is a song called Defying Gravity. Some of the lyrics say, “Something has changed within me, something is not the same. I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game. Too late for second guessing, too late to go back to sleep. It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap. It’s time to try defying gravity. I think I’ll try defying gravity, and you can’t pull me down.” 

In my own way, I defied gravity. Now that I know what I can do, there is no going back. It only gets bigger and better from here. If you don’t have a dream, get one! What speaks to your heart? Is it a trip, a house, a gift for a loved one? It doesn’t matter, as long as it is something from your heart. Do you know what the power of accomplishing a dream really is? Sure you get something fun from it, but more importantly it gives you self-confidence, you will experience personal growth like never before as you stretch to make it happen, and it will give you hope. Hope for something better and a vision of who you can become. Think of how you want to defy gravity and then make it happen! Thank you.

During the speech Julianne showed photos of the trip on a couple of huge screens and then when it was all over, she played "Defying Gravity" as everyone cheered and clapped.  It was so amazing and I felt honored to be able to tell my story.  After all said clapping and cheering was done, Julianne loved on me for a minute and said some really nice things and then she gave me a present.  I was not expecting that and when I saw it I squeeled like a little girl.  Lucky for you, I have photos:

You're eyes do not decieve you because that is a Barbie collector's doll.  The only Barbie I have ever loved.  She got me the Nessa Rose doll, which those of you who are not acquainted with Wicked, would call The Wicked Witch of th East. And when you push a button it sings, "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead."

She looks really pretty and really grumpy because in the TRUE story she was both of those things.  She was also not-so-nice and to prove that you should probably know that it is her fault that the Tin man became the Tin man and doesn't have a heart.  Also, look at her tiny little stripey legs and ruby slippers:

I wanted to open her and get a good look at her, only Julianne about stroked out because apparently you can't open collector's editions or they are not collectable so much anymore.  I didn't think a peek would hurt, but apparently it does.

All in all it was a most wonderful and "wicked" day!