I Should’ve Known

I had a feeling this morning that I shouldn't be going to the event today at the Grailville Art Center. It wasn’t a stong feeling, just one of concern. So I called. The coordinator sounded like he had forgotten about me and hadn’t put any signs up. They run a conference center and he’d asked me to come on one of those nights so I could speak to the guests after dinner. Even though he’d forgotten, and even though nothing had been done, I still thought twenty people is twenty people. He said he’d put up a notice and I asked him if he knew the title of my book. “Something about Brazil right?”

Uh no sir, that’s brazeeeeeres.

He said I could still come but that it would be up to me to do everything. I could talk to them in the cafeteria while they ate, or in the coffee house after. At this point it only sounded challenging and I could handle the extra work.

But…

When I got there and had the table set up and looking pretty, the conference people started to come in. I told them that I’d be doing a reading after dinner. Then someone told me that they wouldn’t have time. So I changed my spiele to, “I’ll be doing a *short* reading after dinner”

Then their leader came up to me and told me that the ones with the folders had lots of homework to do and didn’t have time. She warned me not to be disappointed if no one shows up. And she wasn’t exactly super friendly about it. Still, I manned my table and greeted everyone who came in.

Then when they were all seated and I saw her down the hall, I checked in with her again. Was this event bothering her or interrupting her program? I asked her that and she said that they were in a Life Success program and doing lots of “Inner” work. And that they needed to stay in that inner place and that my stories would bring them out of it and away from it.

Naturally I thought “Panties or Prison” would be a great palette cleanser for this type of thing, but I wanted to respect her. We talked about it some more and I decided to pack up. Thursday was going to be a big day and I hadn’t even told my peeps there yet.

Inside I was thinking, life success? I’ll tell you how to succeed in life—learn to laugh! Especially at yourself. When things go wrong, pick yourself right back up like the women in my book.

As I was packing up, she rushed back and told me not to leave yet. She suggested that there might be some people staying even if another group would be leaving immediately. I could tell she felt bad and was trying to make me feel better. But when she said that the group without the homework consisted of two people, I thanked her and continued to leave.

What’s the lesson? Trust your instinct? Try harder? Start booking at the chains?
It doesn’t matter. But now it’s time to blitz. I’ve only got two weeks left.