's MOTD Thurs. 4/13/2006

[Guest guest]

's Daily Message

Thursday

April 13, 2006

SCHOOL DAYS

Several months ago, I was asked to make an appearance at the National School

Board Association Conference. I was honored and a bit nervous. I had a

meeting on the phone with the top executives of the association, and they

were telling me who was going to speak at the conference. First up was Colin

. Then Jane Goodall, the lady who is famous for studying primates, and

lastly, little old me! I was closing the show. Attending the conference were

10,000 school board members from the United States and Canada and hundreds

of school superintendents representing their districts.

So there I was at 9:30 Tuesday morning dressed in a tank top with the school

board`s logo right smack dab in the middle. One of the Vice Presidents

introduced me. Well, they all stood up and started yelling, and I never

appeared on the stage! I was in the back of the house, and I quickly made my

way to the huge stage. I entered with the song " Celebration, " and everyone

began moving and dancing. Then I played " Disco Inferno " and invited those

who have been school board members for 10 or more years to come up. Well,

hundreds of people rushed to the stage and told me and the massive crowd how

many years they had served their board – fourteen, eighteen, twenty-two,

twenty-seven, twenty-nine. And then I met this sweet man who had been

working with the school board for 38 years!

Next, I asked those who had been cheerleaders in their younger years to come

on stage, and again, a mob ran up the stairs onto the stage to show me some

cheers that they remembered. The audience went nuts!

After all the craziness was over, I sat on the stage and talked with all of

them. At the end of my session, I went out in the audience and asked them

all what could be done to help the millions of children who are overweight

and out of shape. Many raised their hands to offer suggestions, and I

listened carefully to what they had to say.

As I was leaving McCormick Place in Chicago, one of the big wigs of the

association walked over to me and said, " I give you an A+ today! " Thank you,

CBAC, for being so kind to me!

Love,