From the Newsletter Editor's Desk

By Kristine Smith, ACB, ALB

Ah, autumn; that glorious time of year. The time where the cooing of the mourning doves is drowned out by the obnoxious beeps or screaming guitar sounds of the alarm clock. The time of year where the most common sound is the whining and fighting for the bathroom mirror ("you’ve been in there 45 minutes – it’s my turn!"). The time of year where you spend 20 minutes digging your favorite sweater out of the winter clothes box in the morning only to be sweating and blasting the air condition by late afternoon. The time of year where the pretty and colorful leaves fall off the trees and create a kaleidoscope-like blanket across the driveway – an extremely slick and dangerous carpet. The time of year following the school bus stopping at each and every driveway along your entire commute to work – and suffocating from the exhaust fumes. Ah, yes, autumn. It’s also the time of year when the craziness of life begins. Not just back to school, but Thanksgiving and cooking and family gatherings and then Christmas shopping, present wrapping, holiday parties, decorating the tree and the house…it just never ends. In the midst of all of this we as Toastmasters throw in dues renewal, the Smedley Award membership contest, the Humorous Speech and Evaluation contests, District 45 Fall Conference… Instead of flitting around like a hummingbird, take a moment to BREATHE and remember:

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking this mixed up world as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that all things will be fine if I do what is right and not what I want;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy forever in the next.
Amen.
[adapted from Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer]