Afternoon everyone and thank you for inviting me to your meeting today.

I'm
not sure what your normal format is, but I'd like to share what I've learned about
setting goals and making your dreams come true, however unique they may be.
This is easier said than done, of course, but my favorite saying is you can soar
on the wings of the right attitude. You see, several years ago I was in a very
difficult stage of life. Two women in my life had passed away of the same
disease. Some days I was so sad and tired that it was a challenge to get off the
couch. I just wanted to crawl into a tent and zip it up around me. This was not
the course I wanted my life to take, but what could I do? Well one day. I just
started walking. That's right, walking. That first day I made it a whole 10
minutes. Still, I reminded myself of that little sang about soaring on wings. You
can soar on the wings of the right attitude. I decided to keep trying. I slowly
increased by rations of time spent walking. Soon my endurance improved and I
felt so good mentally and physically that I even began running. Just over a year
I lost 100 pounds and achieve the dream that I had set my heart on long ago. I
completed a marathon. To me. There were no opponents in that race for each
mile of hot mountain terrain. I kept myself going by thinking of everyone who
had helped me reach my goal. I think having him with me through those 26
miles helped me finish. My desire to live a full, healthy life had been my
motivation for running. After reaching that goal, I wanted to help others, so I
wrote a book about my experience and helped to organize a yearly race to raise
money for Women's Health. It's hard to believe that. Just a few years ago, I
could hardly walk down the street because now I feel wonderful. I just told my
story can get into the minds of others, maybe even some of you. To keep a
positive attitude and help yourselves in the same way