proof #2

"There is no love; there are only proofs of love." Pierre Reverdy

On the last day of the conference, I am facing the audience, seated at a table on stage with the other panelists. Our powerpoint presentations are loaded on the laptop and ready for projection onto the two large screens flanking the podium.  We've been prepped on how to use the microphone, electronic pointer, and wireless slide advancer.  I review, again, my slides, adding a few notes and as each presenter is being introduced, I begin to get nervous.  The audience is paying plenty of attention and is a larger group than I'd anticipated (oh, how things look different from the vantage point of a stage).  The speaker seated next to me has accomplished more in the last year than I will in a decade.  I probably should have bowed, rather than shaken her hand when we were introduced. 

I remember to silence my cell phone and as I pull it from my bag, I notice a new text message has arrived, 'good luck on ur presentation XO.' The message does not register as being from either a colleague or friend – the former not likely to use "ur" and the later not necessarily aware I was presenting.  I tap the cell phone screen and view the full message.  It is from my 12-year-old daughter. Subtracting the time zone difference from the numbers on the clock, it registers - she is getting dressed for school and manually clicked through the alphabet on her phone's number pad to say 'good luck on ur presentation XO'.  With love this big, there is no room left for doubt or fear.  Calm is a few breaths away.  I smile, sliding my cell phone back into my bag.