Brad's final leadership program!

On August 9^th Brad graduated from the leadership program he has been in for the last couple years.  The spouses were invited to this last meeting which included a dinner cruise.  The attire for this event was business and business casual.  Their version of business and business causal are a little dressier than most.  I wear scrubs to work.  I wear jeans and running pants around home and when I am out and about.  The most dressed up I get all week is to go to church and it isn’t usually that dressy.  Not only did I have nothing to wear to the meetings, but I didn’t even have a clue where to go shopping!

 

A few weeks ago a friend babysat the kids for me one afternoon so I could go shopping for the appropriate type of clothes.  Not that I thought they would kick me out if I wasn’t wearing the right thing, but I didn’t want to show up really under dressed either.  I just didn’t think scrubs were going to cut it, but I don't love shopping so I was really hoping I could figure out a way to make the scrubs work.   Anyway, after a trip to the mall and several very unhelpful stores and store associates I was starting to worry I would never find clothes.  Then I stumbled into The Limited with an exceptional sales lady.  I told her the situation and she went around grabbing clothes from all over the store with me trying to keep up with her.  I think she even guessed my size before I told her!  She brought me to the dressing room and must have sensed my confusion about what went together because she hung everything up by outfits and explained them all to me.  She came back often to check on me and give me her opinion.  I ended up with two outfits!  One for Brad’s meeting and a less dressy one for church or something, I am not sure but I really liked it so I had to get it.

On Thursday morning (8/9) when Diane arrived at our house to watch the boys overnight while we were gone.  Brad, Cecilia and I headed out in the Beetle for Alyse’s apartment in Chicago.  Alyse was going to be watching Cecilia overnight.  Diane was already going to have her hands full with the boys, my nieces and my nephew all staying with her at our house.  As we were driving Brad kept getting more and more nervous about our timing.  I was cool as a cucumber and figured we would be on time.  When we got to Alyse’s we had to quickly change into our dress clothes and find the correct public transportation to get us to the hotel to drop off our stuff and then onto the meeting/graduation.

 

Aunt Alyse and Dunkin

While I was feeding Cecilia before I left Alyse's I was explaining a few things to Alyse, including how to use the baby carrier.  I needed her to try it on but I had Cecilia, so she put her dog, Dunkin, in the carrier to see how it worked.  Meanwhile Brad was starting to get more nervous about our timing and was wanting me to get dressed quickly!  We decided that we could take the CTA and still get everywhere we needed to be on time.  As we were standing on the platform waiting for the train I told Brad how much I enjoyed watching him stress out about the time.  On the days that I work I am stressed trying to get everyone moving on time so I am not late.  I have to be at work relatively on time or my clients will be waiting on me.  Brad doesn’t have to be at work at a certain time (most of the time) and never seems stressed in the morning, so watching him stressing about time was just a little entertaining.  Brad didn’t seem to see the same amount of humor in it as I did!

Chicago!

At the meeting we were able to mingle, eat a delicious dinner and listen to each participant summarize their experiences in the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program.  There was a common theme to all the summaries:  the friendships made in the program were very important to everyone and the program helped everyone to step out of their comfort zones and see things a little differently.  After the meeting we headed to a dinner cruise.  It was a more relaxing environment to get to visit with the class participants and their significant others.  

Celebrating Graduation

The fun came after the cruise when we went with several people to a bar to “network.” When Brad would be gone at his meetings he would tell me that he had to go out with everyone at night to network and get to know everyone better.  I would be at home with the kids hoping he would call so I could tell someone about our day and then he would only be able to talk real quick because he was at the bar “networking” and it was difficult to hear me.  In his defense it is easier to get to know people in a more relaxed environment, but while he was having fun I was at home trying to hold down the fort and I had little to no adult conversation.  “Networking” was a lot of fun and it was nice to get to know some of the people Brad has talked so much about over the last 2 years!  We stayed out a little too late for me and it made it not so much fun to get up and get back to pick up Cecilia by 9am!

Kelli and Brad...All dressed up and this is the only picture we have