Success

I conducted that regional dance meeting last week and as you can see, I didn't melt or implode or cry, which equals a great success in my book. I was warned that it would be a rough crowd and it's a good thing I was--because it was a rough crowd. I guess any time you get 20 stake auxilliary presidents in a room together you are going to get some strong personalities vying for domination of the meeting. But I held my own and stayed "in charge" till the bitter end. One disadvantage to never having attended this meeting was that I didn't know how important (and how competitive) it would be to snag desirable months for the dance calendar and unfortunately we ended up with July, the very last choice for everyone. Las Vegas in high summer is never a fun time to do anything--unless you are a teenager, in which case EVERY time is a fun time if you are with your friends (no matter how miserable the adults may be).

The majority of the time we discussed how to handle kids not bringing dance cards (their pledge to follow the rules). That sparked a lot of lively discussion and debate--some people were very strict, some very liberal, some proposed hard-to-execute solutions and some had crazy stories (!) but in the end we came up with a plan which seems reasonable to me. If they don't bring their card, they call their Bishop, just like at the temple. Easy.

But the good news is that I did it and it's over. Our stake YM President, Brandon, was right next to me and he had my back, which was a comfort. So even if things had turned sour I knew he'd save me (though it would gall me be saved! I'm probably too stubborn to even acknowledge the need.) He is a very easy, competent, kind-hearted person to work with and I appreciate that when it comes to the youth and our callings, we are on the same page.