Dear Readers,

I would like to take a moment to introduce my husband, Jonathan Choate. He will be guest posting on my blog today and is sharing his views on health care and what kinds of reforms he would like to see as a conservative.

My husband and I are very different.

Yin and yang. He said, she said. Mary Matalin and James Carvell.

(Which is unfortunate as that would make me James Carvell because truthfully, while an attractive man, he would make a REALLY unfortunate looking female.)

If you want further proof of our differences, just compare his post title on health care reform to mine.

See what I mean?

I wanted you to have Jon’s point of view.

I had so much more to write but I cannot.

My basement is flooding.

FLOODING.

I am only in here because my back gave out from bailing and the baby started crying to be fed. So I sit here feeling frustrated. Ugh, I can’t think of it.

Oh, well. At the end of the day none of this matters. What matters is that people keep talking. Keep sharing. If you’re like Jon and don’t want the current plan? What are your ideas? If you are like me and want a plan passed with a few changes, what you would need to feel comfortable with to have it passed? Tell us. If you are very supportive of the current bill what would you need to see happen to get to a place where reform could occur? Where are you willing to be flexible?

I have to go. The need all hands on deck. You know, because my basement is flooded. It’s the first day of school, I haven’t had one ounce of sleep tonight and I think I probably re-injured my back so honestly I do not know how much I am going to be able to be around here today.

If you want to know how you can help me?  Continue on with the example you showed in my previous post. People, I had 260+ comments, over NINE HUNDRED EMAILS and guess what? Not ONE hateful comment.

NOT ONE.

I get hate mail for the way I tie my scarf and people have managed to have a passionate, CIVIL discussion about the most emotional issue in the country.

I AM SO PROUD OF YOU ALL.

It restores my faith in humanity.

So please:

KEEP THIS DEBATE RESPECTFUL. CIVIL. FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS. SPEAK UP!

Continue to speak up with your stories, ideas, solutions from BOTH sides. If you don’t do it here, do it somewhere. Fight to keep civil dialogue flowing. Between us all we can do this.

Please.

I did want to answer one question before I go. A reader asked me what in the world I could do to top being invited to The White House.

The answer is easy.

Work to get invited back.

:)

~Loralee

P.S. If you could spread the word that this post is up on the internet, I would be grateful. I think I will be too busy trying to keep the pestilence and plague of locusts that are probably going to descend next at bay. At least the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that are parked on my lawn have been watered.

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Imagine that you are at work, just going about your day and your wife calls and blurts out, “The White House will be calling you on Monday.”

That’s just another day of life being married to Loralee.

Apparently I was a rather integral part of the conversation during a luncheon held half way across the country with a room full of people I have never met. Loralee was given an amazing opportunity to speak with Valerie Jarrett about health care reform and she spoke a lot about myself and our frequent disagreements on it.

We have both lived through the same experiences and have come out of it with some different views regarding this hot button issue. While we agree on some things, we have many views that completely differ from one another about what should be done.  At the end of the luncheon, Ms. Jarrett announced that she would like a chance to speak with me to hear my ideas for solutions on health care reform. You can read Loralee’s view on the entire thing here.

I spent considerable time contemplating what I would talk about.  For those who are not aware, I am very conservative individual. I am not a Republican, and have not supported either of the major candidates in at least the last 3 presidential elections.  I am libertarian/constitutional in my views. I have a philosophy on what I believe is the role of government, and so far neither of the 2 major parties has represented those beliefs adequately.

I oppose most of the policies that the current administration has proposed.  However, even though I oppose the policies, I do not believe that the president or his advisers are bad people.  I think they wholeheartedly believe that what they are trying to accomplish is the right thing for the country.  I just disagree with the methods.  And that is why they wanted to talk to me, a network engineer from little old Logan, Utah.  They wanted to talk to a regular everyday conservative and see how he feels about the health care debate, and for that I give them huge amounts of credit.

True to her word, I received a call from Senior White House Adviser, Valerie Jarrett, the following Monday afternoon.

She is a delightful person.  We spoke for roughly 30 minutes, a significant amount of time for someone with her responsibilities. We had a good conversation about her experience meeting my wife and about health care reform.  We covered several topics including tort reform, regulatory reform, and methods for improving efficiency in the health care system.  Like many political topics, we agreed on several points of view, especially what the problems with the current system are. Due to time constraints there were many parts to the debate that we were unable to address, so I told her I would put my thoughts on a guest post on Loralee’s blog.

I’d like to address what I feel are the real underlying problems with the health care system.  It is NOT a problem with health care, and my wife agrees with this. Our family has a wonderful physician. He is a General Practitioner and he has done a wonderful job treating my wife and children. We like him very much. My wife also had an outstanding high-risk OB/GYN and Perinatologist that saw her though her pregnancy. I deeply appreciate the care my wife and baby received during those 9 trying months.

The care of our providers is not in question as far as I am concerned. It is a problem with cost and availability.  Despite a lack of emphasis of preventative care (which should be the responsibility of the individual, not the government), the US has the best system for actually dealing with health problems.  We should be fixing the underlying problems in the current system, not just shifting who pays for what. We need to address lowering the actual cost of health care and here are a few ideas on how to do that. These have been brought up by other people in other places, but this is just my opinion of them.

Tort Reform – This phrase is bandied about by a lot of people who don’t even know what tort is.  “Tort is a system for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to another’s person, property or other protected interests (e.g. reputation, under libel and slander”[from Wikipedia].

Doctors need to have malpractice insurance in order to protect themselves from malpractice suits. Most of the insurance regulation occurs at the state level, so there is little that the federal government can do in regards to that.

However, as some states have done, they can establish caps on certain types of claims in order to help stem the rising cost or malpractice insurance.  This would directly affect the premiums that doctors pay, therefore lowering the overall cost of the services provided.  By doing this, this may also affect so called “defensive medicine”.  That is when additional tests or procedures are performed on a patient solely for the purpose of protecting the doctor or institution from malpractice liability. As far as I can find, no one has been able to successfully quantify how much waste defensive medicine is causing, but anecdotal evidence suggests that it is significant enough to make in impact.

Another option is to move medical litigation to a special court (much like taxes are) that is designed to deal with medical issues.  Having a medically trained judge making the ruling would simplify the process and severely curtail frivolous claims as they would have to sell the story to a medical professional rather than a jury. This would only be for civil suits, not when there is criminal action brought.

Regulatory Reform – The regulatory burden that has been put on many aspects of the health care industry is very significant.  I am not saying that some regulation is not needed, but come on people, some of the hoops health care providers have to jump through to provide us services are down right draconian.  This applies not just to doctors and hospitals, but to the peripheral industries that support them.  A good example of this is HIPAA.  While I applaud the effort and good intent to try to protect patient’s privacy, the lengths that doctors and hospitals are forced to go through for compliance with this law are absurd.  I know, as I have done some consulting for network and computer security for doctors and hospitals.  A review of these restrictions by people in those industries (not a politician or bureaucrat) would find thousands upon thousands of useless efficiency draining regulations that could be removed, or revised.

Regulatory reform especially applies to health insurance.  One of the major problems with the availability of insurance is that you cannot bring your insurance across state lines. There are many complications regarding this. I generally prefer  states to be as independent of the federal government as possible. Limiting the sale of a product (which is what health insurance is when you get down to it) across state lines is rather silly. We certainly don’t do that with any other products except alcohol, drugs, and firearms.  And those are generally restricted by the states themselves, rather than by the federal government.  I don’t think insurance belongs in the same category.

Tort reform and regulatory reform are changes that the federal government could make fairly easily and quickly. However, these are only things the federal government can do directly.  There are many other reforms that could be made to the basic structure of how we access and think about health care that would fundamentally change the system in a positive way. These are things that must be done in collaboration with industry and states because while the government must be involved it cannot accomplish these things by itself.

Make insurance coverage independent of employers.  What used to be a way for a company to offer an incentive to attract and keep good employees has become a requirement for any company employing more than 50 people. That has become a MAJOR burden upon businesses.  It also makes it so there is no choice for the individual. With most companies paying a portion of the care as a benefit, the employee doesn’t see the complete spectrum of cost increases. If individuals had to obtain their own health insurance, it would allow them to have real choice, rather than being forced to take whatever plan their employer provides.  

The increase in individuals seeking insurance would allow a new market of co-ops and other voluntary groups plans. If we take away the unnecessary regulations they would be able to operate for more efficiently. The money saved by employers on insurance and Human Resource costs could go directly in their employees pocket.

Making a profit is not a sin. Lately, I have heard from several sources that we need a public option because “there would be no profit motive”.  Guess what folks? PROFIT IS NOT A BAD THING.  

Now, if you are making your money through unethical or criminal means that is a different thing.  But if a company does not make a profit, they go out of business.  This is true for insurance companies as well.  It is the profit motive that spurs innovation and efficiency.  If there is no profit, there is no benefit for risk.  Why would a pharmaceutical company invest hundreds of millions of dollars to possibly develop a new drug to treat a disease if there is no benefit if they succeed? 

I hate to say this to our Canadian and European neighbors, but for your own self interest you should be fighting additional government involvement in the US health care system as the rest of the world benefits from the innovations the United States produces from…. you guessed it, profit.

I do not want you to think that I support the practice by some insurers of denying any questionable or expensive claim until action is taken and they are forced to cover it.  If you have contractually obligated yourself to provide a service, you better do it.  Since most individuals have no direct choice about their own coverage and that our system has become so bloated, the market is not working. If I have a plan in my name, and I am unsatisfied with the service I will go somewhere else.  If I have no choice other than what my employer or government has chosen to provide to me, all I can do when the service is bad is to bitch about it on the Internet.  Companies that offer poor service and have bad policies will go out of business because they won’t have any customers.  Before we abandon market principals… let’s try using them.

I began this ever increasingly long post saying that I have a specific philosophy on what is the proper role of government.  There have been thousands of volumes written on that topic, so I won’t expound too much on it, but having the federal government competing directly with private industry is not one of the things that I believe is their role.

I believe in limited government, especially at the federal level.  Government is necessary so that we are not in anarchy.  But any power that we give the government is power we as individuals no longer have.  Government by its very nature wants to grow.  That is why our constitution enumerated and limited powers of the federal government and split the powers among different branches with checks and balances with the hope that they would keep each other from growing.  If a state wants to try to offer a universal system then that plan can be debated among the residents of that state, as they do not have the same constitutional restrictions that the federal government does.  Does that mean I would support a socialized state system?  No, because I believe socialism is morally wrong and, to be blunt, destroys individual initiative and responsibility.  But that is for the individual states to decide.

If you managed to make it this far, you get a cookie.

I have not addressed one of the major issues facing many people (including my wife) and that is being “un-insurable”.  I don’t have a good answer for that.  You can’t force a private insurer to provide services to some one, and I don’t support having the services directly provided by the government.  

I think that we might already have the best solution in place now.  In Utah at least, there is a program that is partially paid for by the individual (quite expensive, but no absolutely astronomical), and part by fund that all insurers in the state are required to pay into (kind of like Workman’s Comp).  The fund is administered by a private insurer that is contracted to the state.  This is only offered to those who are unable to obtain insurance though a private insurer.  However, if we keep a system like that please for the love of all that is good, remove the stupid requirement that you must exhaust Cobra before you can join. That one bit us in the ass. We weren’t aware of us, the accepted us (when they should not), we verified coverage for our pregnancy and were told we were fine. We have learned the hard way to double and triple check everything.

In summary, I realize that the steps that I have outlined will not solve every problem we have.  There is no magic band-aid that will make it all better.  But these are steps that I think can significantly improve access, cost and availability.  There is also one thing that I think we can all agree on.  Our government cannot afford the plan that is currently proposed.  The CBO has estimated that is will cost us a trillion dollars over the next 10 years.

Remember, Conservatives want change too.  But let’s be certain that we are actually changing things for the better.

I would like to end by thanking you all for listening and my wife for giving me the chance to post this.  She did not have to do it.  I have not been the most supportive person in the world about her blogging, but am proud of what Loralee has been able to accomplish with her blog.  While I do not particularly like the massive amount of time and energy it takes, she is doing a great job.

You know I ADORE Sandi and Brandon Benson, but here is another reason to love them: Sandi truly loves her readers. (Well, the non-asshat ones, anyway.) If you are non-asshat and not reading her, you should be. I loved her as a person first and then I loved her blog. She’s one of the most open people out there.

Every month she has a give-a-way on her blog. Everyone in her family picked their favorite thing once a month they draw both a winner and a prize. The winner will recieve $250 worth of whatever thing (like spa treatments) is selected. The tricky (and fabulous part, IMO) is that the person selected has to have answered a question about Sandi and her life and get it right to win.

This way? Generosity can happen but drive-by freeloading can’t.

I love it!

It is truly one of the most fun, creative and generous give-a-ways I have seen on the internet.

Go catch up on her blog and enter.

You won’t regret it!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Powerless? Desperate? Insecure? Insignificant?

I have.

OFTEN.

My life is pretty unglamorous. I am a stay at home mother that often hangs around in her spit-up covered pajamas and blogs about things that are rather pointless and silly from the comfort of her home.

A lot of my life has been difficult. I have lived through some pretty horrifying things. To quote Steel Magnolias,” When it comes to suffering she is right up there with Elizabeth Taylor”. This past year in particular has been extremely hard on me and my family physically, emotionally, financially and just about any other “lly” you want to throw in.

Many of you know about my insurance woes and health problems and that the State of Utah declared my pregnancy a pre-existing condition. That we lost a 3-month-old to SIDS and that this was our first baby after 6 long years of grief and loss. That I was so sick that I pretty much became a hermit that spent all day in the fetal position in bed, throwing up endlessly into a bowl. Those and many other things have made me feel shell shocked. Scared. Tired. Powerless. Worthless.

Enter BlogHer and The White House.

I wasn’t sure how BlogHer was going to go for me this year.  Even though I was determined, I wondered the whole plane ride why I was even going.  I knew it would be really difficult for me.

I was right.

I made some embarrassing faux pas. I felt overwhelmed and hormonal from the delivery of my 6-week-old. I had crippling back pain, I kept throwing up for some unknown reason, I missed my baby like mad.  I felt like my blog has sucked for such a long time I didn’t even feel like I deserved to be there. I felt insecure about everything from my writing to having a year filled with internet suckitude of mass proportion.

I can be rather misunderstood on the internet sometimes.  I am chaotic and disorganized. I have difficulty keeping up with people and things and it has cost me. I get a surprising amount of hate mail. I was on a whole flipping hate blog for hell’s sake. I have been classified as a braggart, a snob, and the biggest cry baby on the internet.  Anyone who really knows me knows these things are so far from what I am. Although, I will admit that after the “Ye Olde Snot Fest” called BlogHer and all my blog entries from this last year, I have actually earned the cry baby title.

Example?

A low point found me locked in a bathroom stall of the hotel sobbing (again) and throwing up (again). I heard the door open and a large group of woman entered.

My heart sank.

I wanted to be alone in my vomitous misery.

There was the usual banter about writing, work and politics and the rustle of purses opening to obtain lipsticks and brushes. Then one of the women started talking.

About me.

There was respect in her voice.  For me. For what I do. The others joined in about how much they loved my blog and my writing. How it inspired one of them to start blogging and how they also thought I was one of the best people to hang around at the entire conference.

One woman said she would sacrifice one of her favorite cats and give up her career if she could figure out how to write like me and start a blog of her own.

It was overwhelming to me. Not because of the attention or because someone with multiple cats would give up their career to write like someone who uses the phrase “boobies are magical” on the internet far too often, but that what I do was respected by what seemed to be intelligent, successful women.

ME.

I cried some more.

And I left that bathroom feeling much better than when I went into it.

It was a turning point for me.

This huge gathering of my writing and blogging peers changed so many things for me.

My first night there, The Queen of Spain, a blogger that I totally admire, asked me if I had checked my email. My thought was, “Dude! I didn’t even know she knew who the hell I was, let alone that there was an email waiting for me in my inbox!”

It was from Elisa Camahort-Page, one of the co-founders of BlogHer and someone I completely love to bits and admire. The email invited me to a very small luncheon with Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. They wanted to hear my opinion about health care reform.

I was floored.

Staggered.

They wanted to talk to ME?

Did they know I wasn’t a political blogger? That I am just a stay at home mom with eleventyhundred credits and no college degree that can carry a decent tune and often blogs in her underwear? That I am a loud, silly dork that wants to start a movement to bring the classic middle-school insult “RENOB” back into the common vernacular?  THAT I WRITE ABOUT MY TA-TAS ON THE INTERNET??

Seriously?

But it was true.  They wanted me.  Loralee Choate.  A nobody moderate Republican from Cache Valley, Utah.

I was terrified of looking like an idiot in front of everyone and I spent all day repeating over and over to myself, “Do NOT swear! Do NOT be too loud! DO NOT SAY TA-TAS!”

I called my less-than-enthusiastic-about-my blog husband and told him what was happening.

He told me to make sure I told The White House that my husband would gladly pay every cent than have socialized health care.

I told HIM that if he wanted The White House to know that he could start his own freaking blog.

Grin.

When the time came for the luncheon, I didn’t really think that I would even say anything, but then a blogger from Mom-o-crats brought up that she felt that the GOP was spreading misinformation. That they didn’t really get what the Democrats were trying to do with health care refrom.

I timidly raised my hand and asked to respond to her as a registered Republican from Utah.

I stated that there is HUGE concern that this is a ploy and step on the path to socialized health care and government. There is no dirtier word than ‘socialism’ in my state and with my family. I don’t see this plan as socialism. I also admit that I don’t start frothing at the mouth in anger and fear like many around me do when they hear that word. I don’t think a lot of them actually know what they mean when they start spouting off about socialism, but that is pure conjecture on my part.

I come from an uber conservative place, my family is very conservative and my husband is so right wing he is probably two steps away from moving to Idaho and starting his own militia.

(For the record, he is unhappy I keep saying that. He thinks I am saying that he is a racist skinhead. I’m not, I just think it’s hilarious. Yet another thing we see differently.)

Living with him and his politics can be…interesting. I wake up most mornings of my life hearing conservative talk radio or Fox News.

(Also for the record? That can lead for some weird-ass dreams, people.)

I actually consider myself more of an independent. If I didn’t want to vote the way that I do in Utah I would probably register as one. While I don’t consider myself a real conservative I do have many conservative stands and points of views.

I love charter schools, I am pro-life, I am for tort reform, I am a HUGE supporter of our military. While I think the war has turned into a huge mess I am unwilling to have a rapid pullout (as much as I despise that my loved ones have to be deployed and put in harms way). I am dismayed and alarmed at the thought of our service men and women’s bonuses, hazard pay and basic funding for them in general being decreased. I have loved ones who depend on that funding. For their families. For their very lives. Our soldiers are already so stretched thin, as are their families and loved ones. Please don’t let them down.

There are things I am liberal about. The thing I am very, very liberal on is gay marriage. I want gay marriage. Not unions, not “separate but equal”, MARRIAGE. And I express that opinion with pride. I want it as much as I want health care only I have no conflicting issues with it. I do with health care.

I deeply hope that the administration does something about both of these. Pretty please?

* Yes, the above is shameless platform plugging but if you knew that your words were going to be read by the administration (because they asked you to email it) you would TOTALLY put in a few other political issues you want tackled and you know it. ;P

I want health care reform.

I wanted it before the hell that happened to me.

I started talking to Ms. Jarrett about everything my family has been through the last year-from my insurance situation to how hurtful I found it that many in my family saw me go through so much and STILL does not want change.

It felt so GOOD to talk in front of people who mainly agreed with me.  I am sickened by the behavior of some people in this debate. The horrible mud slinging and sickening signs and behavior some choose to exhibit. Thankfully, I have not experienced any of that, but I have been strongly disagreed with. Where I live when I talk about health care reform I usually feel like a small fortress surrounded by warring hostiles. You know, kind of like General Custer. Only with shorter, less attractive hair. It gets tiring to be hugely in the minority and to speak out at such personal cost.

I was grateful to have the platform to vent.

As I told my story, and as I suspected I might, I started sobbing my guts out.  All the frustration, the pain, the stress, the hell just poured out of me.

The whole room was crying with me.

I expressed my anger about how broken the health system is. How ticked and sad I was that Senator Orrin Hatch pulled out of the bipartisan discussions the day before.  I also may have also referred to him as “ugly-tie guy that writes cheesy music”, because I was mad and hormonal.  (I regret saying it and sincerely apologize. An example of how things in this topic can get heated and you can cross the line, apologize and continue to fight to continue on with civil dialogue. Just because you fall off the wagon doesn’t mean you can’t get back on, people. )

I also may have cursed AND said “ta-tas” in that luncheon but I TOTALLY BLAME MOCHA MOMMA FOR THAT.

Heh.

As I cried I apologized all over the place for my tears because I was embarrassed.

It is deeply embarrassing to me that I am in the situation I am.  That at 34 years of age I don’t own my own home yet and wonder if I ever will. That there is no “American Dream” for me. MY American Dream is to be able to GET AND AFFORD insurance and health care. To take my kids to the doctor when they are sick without getting an ulcer about where the money will come from.

It sucks a duck.

I do not want a free pass from the government.  I don’t expect them to foot all medical care for everyone. I don’t want a single payer system. I don’t mind paying my reasonable share.

I do want options.

I do want change.

I want it bad.

I am not saying that the bill is perfect, it is not.  I can actually see many issues with it.  (My conservative side rearing its head.) Even with my concerns I.WANT.CHANGE. It is beyond ridiculous to me that such a weathly, awesome possum nation cannot figure out a way to make sure that people get and have access to affordable health care. That you don’t lose everything you own or bankrupt your family because you became ill. That you don’t have your high-risk pregnancy declared a pre-existing condition when you were doing everything you could to make sure you were covered. It isn’t right.

I am also the very first to say that honestly I have NO IDEA how to make it happen.

Guess what, though?

It isn’t my job to figure it out.

Surely with all the resources available to us, SOMEONE can figure out how to make it happen and work.

I know that many disagree with me and I suspect (and actually hope) to see it in my comments. (Which is fine as long as it is respectful and hopefully they focus on ideas and solutions.)  I am used to being disagreed with about this. I live in one of the most conservative places in the nation.  I married into an extremely conservative family. A family that I love. I know, love, and respect so many people who want such very, very different things regarding this. ALL of them have good hearts and intentions.

While I confess to being on the liberal side I also understand where the right is coming from.

I just disagree with them.

After years of bickering and disagreeing with my husband, I have come to the conclusion that it comes down to the fact that we have radically different ideologies.  My husband believes that it is immoral to put a gun to the head of a man and force him to pay out of his earnings for the greater good of all, where I find it much more immoral to NOT provide for those that truly cannot in the case of health care and to make it accessible and economically possible for people. He doesn’t believe that health care should be a right and I do.

He despises decisions made by “emotion”. I say why is it a bad thing to be fueled by emotion and compassion? The kicker for me is that I would like it to be emotionally fueled AND fiscally possible. This means that I end up being unhappy a lot.

As I relayed my thoughts to the room I said that if they truly do not want socialized medicine and a single payer system,  and that they don’t want an over-all socialistic government then they needed to focus on trying to get that message out to conservatives.

The problem is, I don’t know how many of them would believe that.

Especially my husband.

Then Valarie Jarrett said something I love.

She said that thought many do not believe it, the President truly loves hearing ideas about solving this problem from people with differing points of view.

I chuckled and said that I would be sure to tell my husband that.

Then she said something unbelievable.

“After this meeting is over I would like you to go over to my assistant, Adam, and block out some time on Monday morning to have your husband speak with me on the phone. I would love to hear his ideas for change.”

I think that every jaw in the room was open.  Mine pretty much fell all the way to China.

My uber-conservative husband was going to have a one-on-one conversation with The White House.

With one of the most politically influential people in the nation.

All because I write a little blog in my babybarf-covered pajamas.

When I told my husband that because of me he was about to have a conversation with The White House I was prouder than I can say.  After we discussed what was going to happen (with emphasis that he behave himself) I added something that has been hurtful to me for years.

“You know, Jon. I know you have had problems with my blog in the past. That you consider what I do a waste of time and that it is a silly, pointless thing to do. You get this opportunity because of that blog. Because of me. I have worked hard at this. I have stuck with it for four long years. I am proud of what I do. I think it is time you were, too. I NEVER want to hear or even sense that what I do is silly. Pointless. A waste of time. Never, EVER again. It is so hurtful to me. And if you do? I will totally kick you in the testicles. And we can’t afford the health bills that would produce.”

We both laughed and as the days have gone by we have spoken about it more and worked many things out in our personal relationship, which has been wonderful and if nothing else came from this experience, I would rejoice the most for that.

And Jonathan’s phone call with Ms. Jarrett?

It totally happened. Just like she promised it would.

However, I will let him tell you THAT story himself.

Yup.

Mr. Looney Tunes will be writing a guest post on my blog. (That cracking sound you hear is hell freezing over. Just so you know.)

At the end of the day I highly doubt that anything I had to say will really change or mean anything for the greater picture.

But that lunch and conference changed everything for me.

I survived it and I stayed exactly who I am. No pretense. No false front. I showed the people in that room the real me-silliness, snotting, ta-tas and all.

And it was fine.

For the first time in a long, long time I feel worthwhile.

Capable.

Proud.

Powerful.

I am woman, hear me roar!

Now let’s go burn our bras n’ stuff.