For once, I was speechless...

Last night, Daina, Jody and I went to the Canadian Women in Communications Fall mixer at the Sutton Place Hotel in Edmonton.

The goddess of publishing, Ruth Kelly of Venture Publishing, had been honoured as the 2008 CWC Woman of the Year and was to address the crowd. Anytime Ruth speaks, I listen. It's WEIRD because I have been known to listen to NO ONE but Ruth is Ruth so when I heard that she would be at the event, I grabbed the girls and we went to the mixer.

It was the first time I've seen Ruth since she ripped apart our magazine. That was back in April and if anyone has noticed, our magazine has gone through a MAJOR overhaul. Anyway, I humbly approached her with our latest issue of the magazine, bowed my head and handed it to her.

She was thrilled to see me - of course, I mean it IS ME, for gawdsake!! - and flipped through the magazine. She noticed the difference immediatly and told us that she thought it was much better than the last issues she had seen. She seemed almost impressed!!

When she got up to give her speech, she told the crowd that when she usually speaks at events she knows most people, if not everyone in the crowd but that when she accepted her award for the CWC Woman of the Year last March, she knew no one - or rather, no one knew her.

Ruth is the first woman from western Canada to win the award and the first magazine publisher to win the award. It is a BIG DEAL!

She went on to tell us about a reporter who had asked her years ago if she had risked anything to do what she does. She literally laughed out loud because, she said, every entrepreneur risks something whether it's financial or emotional, the risk of failure or, in her case she says, public humiliation.

She said the biggest risk in life is not following your passion in life and doing what you believe in.

When she said that, she looked right at me, smiled and winked.

She went on with her speech but I stood there, stunned and unable to focus on anything else but that moment. I took a mental picture of that moment and have replayed it over and over since it happened. It's almost like she believes in me and what I am doing with the magazine. And she knows how much I have risked and what I stand to lose should this magazine fail.

But that moment gave me more confidence in myself and this magazine, and meant more to me that she will ever realize.

Life is made of moments like that. I have snapshots of moments that define my life - my final visit with my grandma before she died, getting the phone call that I got the job as a sportswriter at the Kelowna Daily Courier when I was 21, seeing Ron for the first time and somehow knowing he would change my life - and I keep these snapshots close because every moment compounds and shapes the person I become.

I never got to say goodbye to Ruth last night, she must have slipped out without me knowing.
So Ruth, if you read my blawg, thank you for that moment.

Daina, Jody and I enjoyed the rest of the evening especially because WE ALL WON door prizes!!! Daina - poor, unlucky Daina - won a gift certificate for her and a friend to Pure Elemnts Day Spa in Sherwood Park, I won a FANTASTIC purse and Jody won a cell phone!!!

It was a GREAT night!

See y'all on Saturday!

t.