An Average Day Becomes Awe-Inspiring

The frigid subzero air stunned me as I walked out to get the Sunday paper. I thought to myself, “This is not your average morning temperature,” as I shuffled through the snow making my way back quickly to my warm house. Little did I know Sunday was not going to be an average day. I knew for sure the day would unfold watching football playoffs and the Golden Globes since I love sports and events, but little did I know it would remind me as stunningly, as the cold air, about something deeper.

I decided to use my courtside tickets at the Syracuse University Women’s Basketball game at 1 p.m. because my spirit soars cheering on female athletes. As I entered the Dome I ran into four women dressed in orange who I had communicated with the night before. They wanted to get involved with our “CNY Women Rising Weekend” happening in a couple weeks. Before we could sit down, my friend the female SU Deputy Athletic Director passed by giving me a hug. Serendipity was working.

Just like men have done for years, the four of us women spoke about business, getting more women to attend a women’s basketball games and engage women to start golfing more together for personal and economic ties. It was if we planned to have this business meeting at the dome; yet we were there to support our community’s female athletes. The team’s victory coincided with my feelings in choosing to attend the game.

As my day progressed watching the Golden Globes, I saw my new acquaintance Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement on the red carpet of the Golden Globes. I sat next to Tarana just five days earlier at New York State Governor’s Address in Albany. We shared 4 hours together talking about the #MeToo movement since we were both invited there for that reason. As we hugged goodbye that day, I said to her, “Let me know how I can help spread the news about your work going forward.” To see her on the red carpet in Hollywood seemed surreal.

This “average day” ended as I listened to Oprah’s amazing Golden Globe speech. As she spoke, I flashed back to 1998 when I appeared on her show via video about a lesson I had learned from one of her shows. What an honor to appear for 60 seconds on her iconic show. Although I wished I was selected to be in her live audience, just like I wished I was at the Golden Globes live, I counted myself blessed to be chosen to have such awe-inspiring moments with women.