The Speaking Engagement

   Sandy sent me a text a month ago. She had received a call from a low vision support group that wanted a pharmacist to come and speak to them. Sandy didn't like public speaking and neither did Jill the other pharmacist. Would I be willing? The answer was an instantaneous yes. I would love to speak to the group. I had hoped that such an opportunity would come to me. A short while later I got a phone call. It was from the leader of the group. She gave me the address and information about what they wanted. They didn't want a prepared presentation. The wanted a question and answer session.
  I spent the next few weeks doing a bit of research on a few eye related topics. I educated myself on the eye injections that are used to treat wet macular degeneration. (I didn't even know there were two kinds.) I was really looking forward to this opportunity. It's something I've always wanted to do.  When I worked at the independent pharmacy, the pharmacy manager had several opportunities to speak to various groups on pharmacy related topics. Had the store been open longer, I may have done some speaking engagements as well.
  Pretty soon the week of the engagement arrived. I called the leader to make sure I had the date and address correct, to confirm that I would still be there and to find out if there were any additional things they wanted me to talk about. The leader was grateful for the call.
  The day of the engagement, the leader called me. It was supposed to be very cold outside and she wondered if I would still be coming. I told her I was going to. It was only a bit below zero, not really that cold to my way of thinking. I was going to be there.
  I went to the meeting site. It was in the library of a senior apartment complex. The lobby was very nice, The library was clean, comfortable and had a lot of books. They group had pushed several smaller tables together to form one large table. The leader pointed to a chair in the middle so I could see and be seen by everyone. I set up my laptop, in case I had to look up stuff. I found an internet source I could use and tapped into it. Unfortunately for some reason it dropped out and I couldn't get it back. No worries, my phone did work. It was just easier to read the laptop.
  The meeting began. At first there weren't many questions. The leader had a few she'd always wanted to ask. This led to other questions and then the rest of the group was chiming in. There were questions about storage of prescriptions, how to use eye-drop guides, a few questions about insurance and questions about expiration dates. I had a wonderful time answering the questions and didn't even need to look much at my phone or laptop. Sooner than I would have thought possible, the hour was over. The leader thanked me profusely. She had learned several new things and thought that the others did as well. She wished that more of the members had showed up for this meeting. I told her that  I would be happy to come again if she wanted. I helped to set the room back up again and then left. I felt very happy that I was able to help this group and give them good information.
   The next day a person came with a candy bouquet. That is where small packages of candy are taped to sticks and arranged in a container like flowers. The bottom of the container held a handful of chocolate kisses. There was a card. It was from the low vision group, they wanted to give me a thank you present and let me know I should not be surprised if I'm asked back. I'll come back any time they want.