Meeting the Queens

After a couple of days vacationing with the family and getting to see a couple of famous Houston area sights--NASA Space Center and Galveston Beach, it is time for the whirlwind week of Ms. Wheelchair America to begin.  I am excited yet anxious to meet all these amazing women, some of whom I have already connected with on Facebook.

The view from the elevator as we head to our room
on the 22nd floor.  I came home and researched safety
items to help a wheelchair user get down 22 flights of stairs when
the elevator is broken. :)

 The beginning of our whirlwind week begins with checking in and setting up our state display.  I'll post picks of all of them on a separate post so you can check them out if you want to.  It also included our first Texas gift--we all got cowboy hats and a wonderful horseshoe for luck.  Be sure to hold it upside down so the luck doesn't run out the bottom. Checking in was a whirlwind, but the beginning of getting to meet all these wonderful title holders from around the nation as well as board members and volunteers.  And, it was my first opportunity to meet Little Miss Wheelchair Texas.  What a blessing she was there this week.  She and my daughter are close in age and made fast friends and spent lots of time together during the week.  Many times she would rather sit with Kirsten than with her family.  :)  I'm so glad she wasn't bored out of her mind.

Here I am with my Yellow Rose of Texas

That evening was our welcome dinner with assigned seating.  We didn't get to choose the women we sat with, but it was the beginning of friendships that just got stronger during the week and will hopefully remain lifelong.  :)  We got to sit with Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts, Nicole and Kathy and Ms. Wheelchair Minnesota Crissa and Karli.  They were so much fun to talk with.  This is going to be a great week filled with so many amazing people.  I had been told to expect an amazing, life changing week.  I am beginning to see how that will be true.  After dinner, we got to attend orientation helping explain the expectations and semantics of the week.  We also got to begin our journey of exchanging state pins.  We got a sheet of random facts about each woman and had to match each woman with her random fact and then exchange pins.  What a fun way to get to know about each other and force conversation other than "Hi, I'm from Kansas and here's my pin."

Look how cute our meal ticket box is . . .:)

I can't wait for more adventures during this week.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Thankful thoughts for today:
Safety flashlight
Fair entry recognition
Cell phones
Finding items locally
Creative husband




"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven."--Johannes A. Gaertner