sales conference jitters

at B&H, we do three sales conferences a year. every four months we get together to present the books for that cycle to the sales team and give them tools to go out and sell. that is really all the sales conferences are. two conferences ago, back in february we had an author, Vicki Courtney, speak to the team about her upcoming book. Vicki's message, not only in this book but in all her materials, is about being a virtuous girl/woman. her audience is tween and teen girls and their moms. while Vicki was presenting i remember watching a co-worker watch her. he has a little girl, probably two and a half years old at the time, and although he doesn't have to worry about his little girl being "virtuous" at two and a half, you could see he was taking a lot of mental notes. he seemed to be fast forwarding to when his daughter would be dating, or when she has friends with different morals, or when she might want to spread her wings a little bit and how he and his wife would deal with it. he was soaking in the advice.

i wasn't really involved in this part of the presentation, but as i watched my co-worker, i got inspired and emotional and emailed michelle a simple message saying, "i want to be a daddy of a little girl." i honestly don't remember her response but i know she saved the email. the rest of the sales conference was uneventful, as they usually are, but when i got home that night michelle met me at the door with one of those little EPT sticks that said "pregnant". my emotions had changed dramatically from earlier in the day watching my co-worker. i wish i could say i was excited, and tearful, and jumping for joy but the reality of it was, i wasn't so sure i was ready to be the daddy of a little anything.

fast forward six months to our current sales conference. it's happening right now and although i don't know what i'm the daddy of, i think i am ready now. or at least as ready as i'm going to be. still nervous and scared, (really scared) but ready. ready to meet this person who rolls and tumbles and punches under michelle's skin, and gets the hiccups, and causes her to get little sleep, but brings us laughs even now. i'm ready to meet him (or her). for the longest time when we would think about or say "we're due november third", that date was a LONG way off. it's not so long now. michelle is going to the doctor every week until sprout comes, the house is ready, pops (my dad) is ready, i guess we're kind of in a holding pattern. three weeks and counting. three weeks.

and at the next sales conference, in february, we'll have a three month old.

j