The Thrill of a Lifetime

This was one happy girl! I took it for the TEAM! I would be remiss if I didn't write a post about the Wyoming Business Leadership Network (WBLN) Affiliate of the Year Award which I was honored to accept from the US-BLN on behalf of our team in DC on September 17, 2009. For me personally it was the thrill of a lifetime!!! Dan says it is like winning the State Basketball Tournament for adults. I guess it was....

In June I was at the APSE conference in Milwaukee and talking to my good friend and former co-worker, Rob Hoffman and telling him at their awards how I would love, just once, to receive a professional award. Then I got notice from the US BLN that the WBLN was winning the BLN of the Year award and I was to go to DC to receive it!!! I was shocked! I couldn't believe it!

Roger and I did a bunch of talking and we figured how we could swing it.... thanks, Dan for some support... and off I went to DC. It was amazing. When I got up to receive the award Roger was making bets with the guys at our table as to how long it would take for me to start crying.... smile...well- I did make it to the podium but I looked out into the sea of faces (over 400 there) and was pretty overwhelmed.

Robert David Hall of CSI fame told me I was one pretty lady.....

Roger, our man of vision and risk... never would have done this without you!

But then I couldn't help but remember all the hard work that went into being recognized for this honor.... I remember all the encouragement of Roger... my mentor and friend who kept challenging me all those years ago, and still does. I remember Rob Hoffman and I... planning plotting and working hard... I remember us looking at each other after we made our announcement to the press that Cheyenne was Wyoming's first BLN and wondering "what do we do now?"I remember my first steering committee ...all who were willing to take a chance on me.... Bob Peck and Bob Bradshaw... Mayor Pando.... many others....I remember Carol Dunlap going all over Wyoming with Roger and I helping to spread the message of the BLN.... that people with disabilities can and want to work..... that they are a qualified untapped labor resource for business.... I remember Rick Douglas from the President's Committee coming in 1993, the first of our roots of the WBLN... soon to follow: Barbara Judy from the Job Accommodation Network to speak to our employers about the value of hiring people with disabilities.

Such a flood of memories as I stood there.... In the years leading up to the award... we grew from Cheyenne where I was the founding director to add 7 more communities. We have had WONDERFUL directors who have kept the vision alive and added their energy and expertise and it has grown far beyond anything even Roger could have envisioned. I remembered my brother Brian... my inspiration to go into this field from the start. I shared all of this this with the audience and people said I made people cry. I don't know about that but as I stood on the podium, in front of all my peers, I felt proud... in the best sense of the word.... Wyoming has done what many of them only aspire to... Wyoming, least populated state in the union, for one night was top dog. This work has always been bigger than us. I am humbled to think that God has used our efforts. So someday I can die proud... knowing that for one shining moment... we had it made, our work was acknowledged....our work has made a difference in the lives of people with disabilities. Thanks to all who made it possible!

The 2009 BLN of the Year Award Goes to WYOMING!!!