February 23rd, 2022

Post date: February 7, 2022

Hello on a snowy Maine Day!

Six of us met on Wednesday via Zoom for yet another great meeting - the gathering included Megan, Chris M, Andy, Natalie, Jeff and myself!  We went "round the loop" as usual.  I started off the meeting and shared a book I've been reading by Jung Pueblo, Clarity and Connection; it was recommended to me by a good friend undergoing some relationship challenges with her adult children.  This book has many little nuggets about learning to be who you really are, not reacting to past emotional baggage but to really discern "who you are now", etc.   Anyway, many pages held meaning for me as a person who stutters and also as a mom trying to reconnect better with MY adult son.  So I wanted to share some of it.  We asked Andy about his Toastmaster meetings and HURRAY!  We have a champion of our own!  He "won" the last speech contest.  He is gaining confidence and is accepting the other members' feedback well.  We talked a bit about how soon is too soon to show your stuttering to others, especially those with whom you know you will be having a continued relationship.  Megan has had a rough month with medical procedures and all the recovery/uncomfortableness that entails; she also discussed how it has impacted her stuttering, which was very interesting.  She is looking up/feeling better and the outcome is good!  Chris shared some thoughtful revelations related to his experiences learning and speaking Italian at the weekly "Italian Table" which is currently on Zoom.  He has realized that the other Italian language learners are also basically non-fluent to the degree that they are struggling with the foreign grammar and vocabulary and they often "sound just like him".  So Chris is now wondering how much he really does stutter in Italian and how much of his disfluency is due to learning a new language.  Interesting to ponder though we didn't have the answer.  Jeff is doing great in California and we all loved his long hair!  He insists it wasn't really different, but for some reason, it was really highlighted in the zoom photo this time.  He is really looking forward to the NSA conference in California in July and urges us to try to make it out there!  Natalie is still working remotely, which means the Zoom life is pretty familiar.  We started talking about pacing our speech at one point, inserting meaningful pauses and the like and got into how to "jump into conversations" (which can be awkward for anyone) and Natalie wished that Chris was still on line (his connection dropped near the end of the meeting) because she always remembers something he told her years ago, "You deserve to take up a little space" in conversations and life.  And she remembers that often as she works and needs to communicate with so many co-workers.  She sent out a big thank you to Chris!

Last of all, we discussed how soon we could schedule a face-face / in person meeting. YAY!  We are going to shoot for April.  We looked at April weekend dates and of us 5 (not 6 unless Jeff wants to fly in from CA?!).  Saturday April 9th was the one that worked for all of us.  We talked about where and since the last face to face meeting was mid state and most of our "newer members who have joined via zoom haven't met each other yet and they mostly live in the southern part of Maine, we decided to look for a spot midway between Portland / Augusta this time.  Later on via email, Andy has volunteered his place in Bath as a meeting site, he has a porch if weather holds.  Or inside if not.  And we'll probably have a pot-luck picnic of some sort!   More details to follow, we'll firm it all up during March Zoom meeting.  So SAVE THE DATE, Saturday, April 9th.  And I am hoping that us folks who live up North can find ways to carpool down to Bath.  Stay tuned for more in your inbox.