Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. That's a little dramatic, but a good description of my day yesterday.
I've found that whatever free time I get as a new mommy is usually spent folding laundry or loading and unloading the dishwasher. Don't get me wrong, James is wonderful, so much fun and sleeps incredibly well... that's probably the only reason I'm semi sane right now.
Semi sane is the key word there because I agreed to something no sane mother of a 5 week old would do yesterday and went and spoke in front of a few hundred women at our Junior League Town Hall. So over the past few days my spare moments were spent embedding video's in powerpoints and doing prep work (aka extra pumping) to be away from my little guy. Laundry did not get folded and there was very full load in the dishwasher today.
I was really happy with the presentation I put together, and decided to be more detailed in my talking points that I usually am when speaking because - I'm the mother of a 5 week old and forget things and get distracted at the drop of a hat - or the drop of a pacifier in my case.
That's when Murphy's Law set in - or a continuous series of fails.
I guess I agreed to speak because I really love the group of families and my committee that I've worked with in JLW, and I was excited to share our message and what we've accomplished this year with our fellow league members. A powerpoint was created, I learned how to embed a video in the presentation (not as easy as doing it on the blog), detailed speaking points were written for each slide along with funny antidotes that should bring a chuckle or two to the room while also conveying the message of how we were impacting lives.
Then, yesterday morning I went to print the note pages of my powerpoint and our printer decided it had a jam that I could not find or unjam, I then emailed presentation to Josh to print- he was at a different office and didn't have his laptop networked to a printer there.
Fail. I decided to just write out my talking points on note cards while I pumped after our noon nursing session. Note cards written, now to get dressed.
I had decided what I was going to wear earlier in the week. We are having unseasonably warm weather in DC, so I wanted something springy and fun. A pretty pink full skirt and cream sweater, both should have been in my closet with all my dry cleaned clothes that have gone untouched since it got chilly in the fall. I easily found my skirt, but went through my closet hanger by hanger to find that sweater and it was just not there, I even called the dry cleaner to see if I had just not picked it up way back when.
Fail. I was able to default to another dress, spruce up my hair and throw on some make-up before Josh got home from work and I set off into the city.
Thanks for the good afternoon nap buddy.
I was planning to arrive a little early so I could get my bearings, plus I was planning to wear heals for the fist time in months so I thought I would need some extra walking time. I guess I got a little distracted as I was driving over the Potomac thinking of how fun it would be to be sitting on the water front with a cocktail and missed where I wanted to turn and somehow ended up going the opposite direction of where I wanted to be.
Fail. Six o'clock traffic in Georgetown was not in my plans, but I still made it with a few minutes to spar.
I'm one of the rare people that really doesn't mind public speaking. I was prepared, my presentation was appropriate and I was excited about my message. When it's my time to talk, I set my note cards on the podium and started the presentation, it was going fine, but the video doesn't work
Fail - no big deal I decide to tell the story in the video of one of the women we help - her words are much more poignant than mine, but I give it a go.
For future reference, when 5 weeks postpartum it is not a good idea to share the story of a woman who finds herself homeless 8 months pregnant and after her c-section isn't able to focus on healing, but where she and her baby will sleep after leaving the hospital. I was doing ok until I made eye contact with someone in the audience who was touched by the story and then I teared up, got flustered and lost focus.
Fail.
Ok deep breath go back to the podium and grab your cards, I set the wireless mouse down on the podium and all my note cards slide to the floor.
Fail. Ok no big deal, I know what I am talking about, I did it all, this in my story to tell. I pick up the mouse upside down - it goes to the previous slide not the next (for every slide transition for the rest of my presentation)
Fail. I'm sure I rushed, and spoke fast, forgot to say all my cute antidotes,
Fail Fail Fail. I did remember to say that when you volunteer with my committee you get a make-over, and the member in the picture was in the audience, which we all enjoyed.
I'm sure the presentation was fine, and no one noticed everything falling apart as I did. I just knew how good it could have been and am a little disappointed it didn't go as well as it should have. But I am just going to be grateful that I didn't end up with two wet spots on the front of my dress in front of a few hundred ladies because I had missed my regularly scheduled nursing session. That would have been a
TOTAL FAIL!
