Public Speaking

So, have I mentioned that I have to take a speech course for work? Well, I do. And I gave my first speech (my 'icebreaker') today. Here is a rough outline of the speech...I can't remember exactly what I said, but this is the basic idea...
The purpose of the speech was to introduce yourself to the group...so, here I am:

On January 21, 1984 I was born in a small hospital in Troy, Ohio. I arrived before the doctor had a chance to put his second glove on – and some would argue that I’ve been going full-speed ever since.

When it was time to take me home, my parents drove less than 5 miles to the house on 876 Hickory Lane that I would live in for the next 8 years before moving to our new house less than 5 miles from there.

Troy, Ohio is a pretty small place. The kind of small town where the lady who owns the penny candy shop knows you personally and will occasionally slip a few extra candies into your bag if you’ve been good. The kind of small place you see on movies with soda shops and spectacle-wearing librarians that you think haven’t existed since the 50’s. Well, I’m living proof that they do. Growing up there has really shaped who I am, and is part of the reason I still love sun dresses, homemade chocolate chip cookies on Sunday afternoon and Shirley Temple movies.

My summers were spent by the pool eating frozen candy bars and relishing the way the hot pavement felt beneath my wet feet as I ran with the other children – completely ignoring the reprimands from the lifeguards.

I’ll never forget the way the heat lingered on my skin as I sat outside on our porch watching the sun go down and the fireflies frolic among the sprouting fields. Nor the way the scent of the corn floated wistfully and mixed with the freshly cut grass as crickets chirped and the warm breeze drifted aimlessly.

My four siblings and I would build forts and climb trees; we’d have squirt gun fights and run through the sprinklers in our lawn stopping only to eat a few slices of watermelon before picking up our play again.

In the summer my family would do one of my favorite things – we’d take our boat to the lake several times a week for an evening of waterskiing – slalom, of course. I first learned when I was 7 or 8 years old and have been passionate about it ever since. The evenings concluded with homemade ice cream from Young’s Jersey Dairy in Youngstown, Ohio –which is hands down the best ice cream you will ever taste in your life…creamy and fresh. And there’s just something about the combination of that ice ream with the big, thick onion rings that would lull us kids to sleep as we drove home. We’d wake up upon arriving at our house and sleep-walk to our beds where we’d fall into a heavy, contented sleep.

Another thing I looked forward to immensely was our town’s Strawberry Festival because I love strawberries. When I was little, we would go pick strawberries from the fields and my parents always joke that they always felt like they should pay for an extra bushel because I would eat just as many as I picked and my pinafore would be stained with the juice from the berries I had thoroughly enjoyed. That being said, it’s easy to see why I loved the strawberry festival so much…how could I not when it was centered around one of my favorite things? There was strawberry shortcake, strawberry popcorn, strawberry burritos, freshly-squeezed strawberry lemonade, strawberry ice cream…I was always in heaven and never knew quite what to do with myself.

Yes, summers in Ohio are wonderful, which is why I’m looking forward to my trip home with eager anticipation. Now, I may be too old to run around the pool and my metabolism too slow to eat frozen candy bars all day, but I can still enjoy the fresh strawberries…and so can you…I hope you’ll take some and enjoy them as much as I.