SATURDAY
From Maurice:
The next workshop was Terry and Denise Portis. "Fear, Frustration, and Fatigue. A personal look at Hearing Loss." Denise is always so funny, and Terry is always so serious, that this was a wonderful workshopAbout the banquet from Maurice:
Terry talked of Fear and Hearing Loss, and Denise gave us her examples. Terry talked of Great Expectations, and Denise talked about Taking care of me. Terry talked about Information, Connections, etc. I found out then that most Senators say if they hear from 10 people, they need to give action. If you want your Senator to know about something, you need to tell him. Denise gave a wonderful testimony of this with her trip to congress to tell about the implant. This is a wonderful couple. You see all the frustrations of him, and her and the children. You see all the humor, also.
The banquet saw us seated at round tables nicely decorated, and a "Please Face Me, I Read Lips" button sitting at each place. The food was excellent, including the special Key Lime Pie! Denise Portis was the guest speaker. Her subject was "Self-Checkout Lines in a Silent World", her humorous description of going through the self-checkout of her food store and dealing with current technology and "helpful" teenagers at the same time.About the banquet from Sherri:
The evening wound up with the silent auction last-minute bidding and then claiming of "prizes". And also, there were pictures being taken and much last-minute visiting.
Saturday night was the banquet night. The room was beautiful and the tables very exquisite. The ladies did a wonderful job both with the banquet and the Silent Auction. Denise P. was our guest speaker this evening and she spoke about the Self Check-out lines at a store and hearing loss. With a final conclusion that we are all part of the "normal" world as we have the same difficulties as others who can hear do. This was a hard night for me because I knew it was the last time I would see most of the people there because our shuttle ride back to the airport was for 8 a.m. the next morning. I was fortunate and very blessed tonight.From Jan:
The banquet is a time to dress up a bit (if you want to--not mandatory), to sit and chat with those you've known from your lists and other conventions, and those you just met face-to-face a few days previously. Sometimes we also get some local people who come just to the banquet, or some travelers from afar passing through. This is the night when you can win "big bucks" with the 50/50 lottery. And this is the night of the famous (infamous?) Silent Action. I didn't hear of anyone sitting on bid sheets this year, but everyone had a blast looking at all the items and doing their bidding, then collecting their loot at the end of the evening. And it's the night of the keynote speaker--I've been to four conventions, and there hasn't been a dud in the bunch. This year, Denise sparkled, and we laughed and laughed with her. I think it's particularly affecting when we have one of "our own" give the speech.And that wrapped up a very exciting Saturday night.
Well, it was the end of the evening as far as the banquet was concerned, but the vast majority of us went to the hospitality area and sat outside at those big, round tables. Most stayed there until midnight and later, and the card players, I hear, played until after three a.m.!
Read on about day four: NEXT
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