I planned a trip to Denver so that I could go to Time Out for Women with my sister, Kathy. First a little back story on the trip down. I had my niece Angela drop me off at the airport Thursday at 9:15am as I had a 10:30am flight. That flight was canceled. I was then scheduled for a 1:15pm flight thru Salt Lake, but with no car and a long wait, I was kind of stuck at the airport. I figured that I would grab something substantial to eat, so after finding something hearty, found a place to sit in the food court area. Just as I was settling in, who should head my way but our Bishop, Dan with his wife, Kathy. They sat at my table and we visited while we ate (they were headed to their son's home in Arizona). We separated to our specific gate around 12:30pm. Well, my 1:15pm flight ended up being delayed. Pretty soon Dan and Kathy were at my gate letting me know their flight had been delayed as well. We visited for a couple more hours. Finally, my flight was called and I left at 4:45pm. Come to find out, mine was one of the last flights to leave for the day. By the way, the main reason that no flights were coming in or out of Spokane all day was due to fog - poor visibility and slick conditions on the runway. I arrived in Salt Lake 7:45pm and raced to another concourse to catch my 8:10pm flight. I got there, sore legs and all, only to find it too was delayed! They put a hand written sign above the desk that said "Flight delayed, maybe 2 hours, don't know". There was no flight crew for our flight, so the delay was having to wait for them to return from Denver. Finally got into the Denver airport about 11:30pm!
Back to the reason I was headed to Denver - to visit with Kathy and go to Time Out. We were able to do a little shopping during the day on Friday and she treated me to lunch at Panera. Then we headed back to her house to get ready for the evening program that started at 6:30pm. She had gathered a few of her friends to go with us and everyone carpooled, so in the van were Jill, Tami, Joni & her friend from Utah, plus Kathy & myself.
FRIDAY PROGRAM - the program included Dallyn Vail Bayles (Vocal Artist), Heidi S. Swinton (the author of President Thomas S. Monson's biography) and Mary Ellen Edmunds (well known author and former director of training at the MTC). The program was wonderful! Mary Ellen spoke first and touched on the topic of becoming who you are and have always been - a Child of God. Dallyn sang selections from Broadway musicals (like "Bring Him Peace" from Les Miserables) and church music (Praise to the Man). Heidi concluded the evening by sharing her experience writing President Monson's biography. She touched on reaching out and making a difference - the sweetest experience in all of mortality is to be the answer to someone else's prayer.
SATURDAY PROGRAM - the program included Hilary Weeks (well known singer, songwriter and author), Mariama Kallon (survivor of war-torn Sierra Leone), Emily Watts (Senior editor, Deseret Books), D. Kelly Ogden (professor ancient scripture, BYU), Merrilee Boyack (author) and Emily Freeman (author).
One of Kathy's friends decided she wanted to sit closer on Saturday, so headed down early to save us seats. Yeah for Tami! We had wonderful seats (maybe 8 rows from the stage) and a great view. They started the program by announcing that there had been a small fire at the complex over-night and the on-site food that was originally planned, would be in very limited quantities due to loss of refrigeration. However, the good news was that no other damage occurred & we had power, so we were able to continue the remaining program as planned.
Just like last night, the program was top-notch. Hilary Weeks started the program. She is a talented gal! She plays the piano, sings and to top it off is a great speaker. Then we heard from Mariama Kallon. What an inspiration! She has seen more than her share of diversity, yet has such a positive attitude. She spoke about rising above your circumstances and being a person of worth. She had a great story to tell when she was a missionary at Temple Square. She prayed to be able to teach someone from Africa, got off her knees and ran to the other end of Temple Square. She only had to wait 5 minutes and her prayers were answered. What an example of faith.
Next up was Emily Watts. She was funny. My favorite story was when she went as a leader to girl's camp and went on a hike with a young woman who did not think she could complete the hike. She also spoke of family traditions and making good habits. She ended by saying we need to be the woman we are because we are worth it! We then heard from D. Kelly Ogden. Following the Savior isn't about perfection all at once, it's about living like Him a little more every day.
We were then dismissed for our lunch break. Kathy's friend stayed at our chairs and knitted while we headed out to get lunch and bring her back something. We were at a place called the Denver Merchandiser Mart which was right in the middle of an industrial area of town. Not a lot of food choices, just fast food. It was cold and rainy so Wendy's sounded good (Chili?!). Unfortunately with the few food choices, everything was crowded. The line snaked through the dining area and almost out the door. It was kind of cute when the local workers would come around to the door, open it, look at the intense line and just back out the door. They had no idea why their normal burger joint was so crowded - and all women! We literally were in line for 1 hour by the time we got to order, so we grabbed our food and headed back. The afternoon session had just started, so we ate our lunch quietly and got ready for more speakers.
Hilary Weeks performed some new songs from her album and then we heard from Merrilee Boyack. I loved how she presented her topic of Becoming Unique. She had a picture of someone who was an example of her topic and then she told their story. B = Bold, E = Eternally Minded, C = Creative, O = Outward Focused, M = Meek
And then the power went out........
Merrilee did not miss a beat. Once it was determined that the power was not going to come back on quickly, she walked to the center of the room and spoke loudly so we could hear. E = Enlightened and U = Unique.
They were able to get a battery powered microphone, but the power was out to the whole block and did not sound like it would be fixed for a few hours. So Hilary Weeks performed a number on the piano while someone shined a flashlight for her music.
We had one more presenter, Emily Freeman. They asked her to give a short message and then we would have to leave early. She spoke, also in the dark, and gave a small portion of her talk. They were about to conclude and then the lights came on - YEAH! So they had Emily complete her presentation. She said we can't be almost committed to living a Christlike life, we have to be totally committed. Hilary Weeks concluded the program. What a great event!
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