Invite a Friend Home to the 2001 LLLI Conference!
by Mary
Hurt
2001 Conference Team
from LEAVEN, Volume 36,
No 2, April-May 2000, p. 33
"Most mothers nurse
their babies about three months," I confidently explained at my
first La Leche League meeting almost twenty-nine years ago. While I
blush to think of my naivete now, the Leaders in the Group, without
blinking an eye, gently presented another viewpoint. Eventually, my
baby's nursing time would come to be measured in years not months, and
the Leaders, as only LLL Leaders can do, mentored me in many ways.
"Would you like
to read this book?"
"Did you know a
membership includes a subscription to our newsletter?"
In countless ways they accepted
me as I was and gently, in words and deeds, showed me another way. However,
the most life-changing thing they ever did was to invite me to an LLLI
Conference.
Attending an LLLI Conference
transformed my view of parenting, leading, and even of myself. Soon
I was an LLL Leader.
Over the years as my family
grew there were many times that I was considering retiring as a Leader.
Then another LLLI Conference would come along and I would be encouraged
and revitalized by the enthusiasm surrounding me at the Conference and
the realization of the good that LLL and LLL Leaders accomplish the
world over. I wonder if I would have become a Leader if I had not attended
the Conference? I wonder if I would still be a Leader without LLLI Conferences?
Attending my first LLLI Conference
was like coming home - coming home to the world of La Leche League,
a world where baby's needs are recognized, a world where the latest
information in the fields of breastfeeding, parenting, and health was
available, but mostly a world where I felt supported in meeting the
needs of my family and LLL group.
It is not often that we can
change the life of someone by such a seemingly insignificant act as
inviting them to an event. If it hadn't been for a Leader personally
telling me that I could attend an LLLI Conference, I doubt that, as
a Group member, I would have had the confidence to attend.
Why not invite an LLL mother
or Leader Applicant to attend the LLLI Conference? Plan now to invite
a friend home - home to the LLLI Conference to be held July 7-9, 2001
at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, Chicago, IL, USA. Join us as we celebrate
LLLI's 17th International Breastfeeding Conference: A Kaleidoscope of
Families, Friends, and Cultures.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:39 UTC 2007.
