Madam Secretary

Well, I am slo-o-wly starting to follow in my Mom's footsteps at church. While I will never be able to give of my time and talent to the extent that she has over the many years, I am answering the call to do what I can.

Last year, I decided to attend the Visitation Council of Catholic Women (VCCW) monthly meetings as they finally moved from a weekday to a weeknight with the hopes that younger women of the parish might get more involved in their activities. The VCCW is the mover and shaker of most of the social and fund-raising initiatives within the parish (think guilds/circles, rummage sale, Christmas Bazaar, pie sales) and financially support mostly aesthetic / ambiance maintenance needs (think carpeting, new A/C, etc). My initial reason for attending the meetings was to become more aware of all the things these good ladies do for our parish.

Last year, the board lacked a President and Vice President so my mom presided over the meetings and everything was decided on by committee. The acting secretary was the last standing president and some monthly meetings were extended due to the need to repeat what was previously stated so all could hear and the details were properly noted. Let me tell you I was, and still am, by far, BY FAR the youngest meeting goer.

This year is the same set-up with one exception.

After attending and observing a few meetings, it occurred to me that I should be more than just an attendee. So at some point last year I told my mom if no one objected, I would be happy to take on the duties of secretary. She was so pleased and the acting secretary was more so. I think my attendance was pretty good with missing only one meeting, so I think I can continue on with such a responsibility.

This evening was the first meeting of the new fiscal year. I arrived ten minutes early and pulled out my laptop. All the ladies ooh'd. It was cute. But with my recording of the meeting, we cut our meeting time by, I kid you not, thirty minutes. I only had to stop once and ask a lady to repeat what she said. Additionally, the minutes are pretty much wrapped up and ready to print and deliver over to Mom's house on Thursday. What fun!

I told Kyle he now has to address me as Madam Secretary. He laughed...rather robustly at that statement. Not sure what that was all about...