July 27th, 2021

Post date: July 28, 2021

Hello, folks!  6 of us met up on zoom this past Tuesday and had a great conversation -- Natalie, Jeff, Chris M., Meghan, Lauren and myself.  It was great to see Lauren again and guess what?!  She is now in Nebraska!  Lauren is a Cornhusker!  We congratulated her on her new job with the Nebraska Forestry Service.  We also checked in with each other and congratulated Jeff on his Award given out at the NSA Conference this year - Regional Coordinator of the Year!  Well deserved, Jeff!  We love having you join us. He also shared other info about the conference this year.  It was well run, but a bit more low key than in the past; 500 people attended with 100 first timers, which was awesome.  

We discussed a topic question related to "do-overs".  Specifically, I asked all to think of one really bad / embarrassing stuttering moment (or moment caused because of the fact that you stutter) and then to sort of replay what / how you would now handle that situation now and with what you know now.  It got into some good discussions and a good outcome I think was really showing how far we all have come in accepting and even advocating for ourselves as people who stutter.  Also, how far we are on the journey of not letting stuttering stand in our way.

We also talked about how important maintaining our zoom meetings will be even as communities and venues open up and we will be able to plan more face to face - in person meetings.  In that regard we also talked about where exactly to have these meetings.  The picnic in Fairfield was attended by 3 of us.  We would like to move these meetings around the state now.  Maybe the next one in a more southern location, before we move up to the Bangor area.  Thoughts anyone?  Please give us feedback on this idea.