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Originally published in LLLI’s LEAVEN, October-November 1999

There were many conference sounds in the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel during our 16th LLLI Conference. Many of them were recorded during sessions and presentations; you can purchase them in the form of audiocassettes. However, many other sounds were just recorded in the hearts and minds of the attending Leaders, members, families, and speakers. If I were to design a special tape of sounds of the conference, these are some I might include.

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Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment, 1985

“Better start boiling water and get some clean sheets—the baby’s coming!” So starts another Hollywood birth, and I’m probably watching it. I never tire of hearing childbirth stories at LLL meetings, so perhaps it should come as no surprise to anyone that I’m such a fan of childbirth scenes in movies and on television shows. I don’t really even watch that much TV, nor do I go to that many movies, but a sixth sense of mine always sniffs out the shows where someone is having a baby.

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Originally published in LLLI’s LEAVEN, September-October 1995

Many aspects of the 14th LLLI Conference in Chicago reminded me of Georges Seurat’s painting “Sunday on La Grande Jatte,” people enjoying a Parisian park. Finished by Seurat in 1886, this well-known example of the pointillism technique hangs in The Art Institute of Chicago. Our conference was also a canvas of dots and dashes of color. From the fruit compote at the first luncheon to Faye Young’s wild hats at the banquet finale, Seurat himself would have enjoyed the rich palette:

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Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment, Winter 1986

I almost drowned in a cave three years ago. It taught me a lot about leading and a lot about following.

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Originally published in LLLI’s LEAVEN, October-November 2001

From the topics du jour at the World Assembly’s “World Café” to the last bite of that silky centerpiece cheesecake at Tuesday night’s gala banquet, I ate my way through the gastronomic and educational offerings at the 17th La Leche League International Conference in Chicago.

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Originally published in LLL of Western Pennsylvania’s PennsyLLL Points West, Summer 1999

Perhaps it’s been quite a while since you’ve been to your first La Leche League meeting. I attended my first Series Meeting over 16 years ago. As a recent transplant into the Pittsburgh area, however, I’ve had the chance to relive being a new comer at local LLL get-togethers and meetings of other organizations. In general, a newcomer needs and appreciates:

• Clear directions. Give basic verbal directions (avoiding localisms like “by the old Sears store” which she won’t know about) and perhaps a map if there’s time to send one. Point out the best place to park.

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Originally published in LLLI’s LEAVEN, December 1996-January 1997

When our children were ages one, four, and six, our family took a one-week trip to Washington, D.C. We used a sling and a stroller for our baby. But what about the older children? Although they could walk, they didn’t always want to walk and we planned to see lots of museums, monuments, and historic sites. How did we possibly do it?

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Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment and reprinted in LLLI’s LEAVEN, May-June 1988

If you were to watch a videotape of your last meeting, you might notice you should have ended the meeting sooner than you did. You might notice that some mothers in the meeting were acting like the meeting had already ended before it actually did. You might notice that some children wanted the meeting to end as soon as they walked in the door.

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Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment and reprinted in LLLI’s LEAVEN, May-June 1988

It’s meeting day. The hour has arrived. Everybody is settling down. The side conversations have melted away. Your children have gone outside to play in the sandbox. The librarian has finished arranging the books. Now what? What should you say in the first five minutes of a La Leche League meeting?

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Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment and reprinted in LLLI’s LEAVEN, May-June 1988

At a large educational conference in Los Angeles several years ago, I attended a session on infant stimulation in day care centers in Israel. I went into the session room early and sat in a folding chair, shuffling through my conference materials with several other early arrivals. The speaker came in to set up his slides and handouts, and then he did an astounding thing: he sat down in a chair next to each one of us for about five minutes of personal conversation.

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