Postby Harriet » Fri Nov 10, 2017 1:08 pm
I think it's tomorrow the POs in US are closed?
Had to battle back something sorta like fear last evening at the meeting, though not exactly. I have always believed that there is an emotion kin to fear that isn't quite the same thing. A response that is more about just not wanting to deal with the fallout, you know? I think a lot of negative behavior in the world continues, not because anybody has respect or awe for it, but because it's so distasteful nobody steps up to get involved. There's more a collective "eewwwwww" and avoidance, as if it were a cow pie. It doesn't scare us - we're just not going to step in it.
Anyway, I came prepared (dozen copies of extended spreadsheet and sheet of notes), was treated with respect, and thanked. A couple of the eye-contact thanks at the end, I believe, were code for "thank you for being civil in the meeting." Basically I was the first to say to all, out loud, the hard fact that we're not going to meet budget, and, in fact, we're not going to come close. And it's not the first time a church missed budget and won't be the last. I said the correct response is (same phrase ya'll won't be surprised to hear from me) "How 'bout that", and then we move on and do the best we can. I (gently) pointed out one of the biggest mistakes made last year by asking them to look at that line for this year and asking whether they felt I was recording it correctly. That opened up the discussion without saying something more accurate like, "and here's that bone-headed move from last year - ya'll do know what you did wrong, don't you?"
The group was large for us, and the only absence was the fellow I call "enforced", who doesn't believe women should serve in even the most utilitarian positions. I don't know if this was planned - maybe a hurried meeting if he hasn't yet returned from vacation (?) - or just a happen-so. I am capable of being congenial in his presence, but others may want to keep my input away from his input. We'll certainly be at odds on some things, and I wonder if one may be my presence - maybe it is his choice to attend meetings in which it is all men. Anyway, in a group blending different boards and focuses, as you can imagine it was very formal. Formality allows a lot of calm, even when you are saying tough things.
Kathryn, Tembo locally or for Nigeria or another thing I don't know about?
I agree that the answer to LadyM's question takes a lot of thinkin'!
I made a DPC this a.m. Starting to get next week's calendar to shape up.
Last evening a TaDa of getting another order made - various things but thinking of bdays, a gift this week for HRH, etc.
It did hit home to me on the day of that shower that I am not prepared for things like that. I need to have shower-type gifts at the ready just in case, maybe one for bridal, one for baby. Certainly having more variety of greeting cards for them. The one I used did say, " congratulations", at least, and there was a child in the art. Not too "off", but it was certainly the only one close!