My Life is a Celebration

My life is a celebration so every morning as I wake I give thanks and celebrate....they say that anyone who has a roof over their head , someone to love and a job to do should be contented and I have all 3 so as Deidre Hall says - life is good .This past week was especially good - I spoke at the Women's Entrepreneurship Day (WED) workshop in Kingston

and my alma mater, St. Hugh's High school, honored me at their Banquet for being one of their success stories .
Well my talk at WED and the panel discussion went very well and I was moved by the standing ovation I received there and at the Banquet, surrounded by close friends , I realized how important it is to be recognized by your school.

 I have received many an award over the years and I can easily say none has made me as emotional as the one from my High School, I only wished there had been room on the programme for me to publicly deliver my own thank you so I will use this medium to say what I would have said. My first year at school my music teacher Ms.McCormack told my mother that she would prefer to teach 5 boys than one Donna Jenkins (the names I went by then) - in those days teachers weren't big on acknowledging boredom in children - Ms.McCormack had me playing the triangle even though I was doing my 8th grade practical and 7th grade music theory and on my way to sit for my LRSM in piano so I guess my mischievousness was just me acting out . St.Hugh's was, nonetheless , a very special time in my life and among the important lessons I learnt, there are 3 that have been the hallmark of my life. Firstly it was at St.Hugh's that I discovered that I had a special talent - I walked with my scissors in my uniform pocket and  young girls were willing to have me cut off their ponytails and plaits in the bathroom and Letty, the school janitor, was willing to sweep up the hair in the bathroom to allow me to be back in class when the bell rung.
Secondly, I was taught from that early age that I was a leader . The group that came over from St.Hugh's prep was called Jesus and the 12 disciples of course you must have guessed who was Jesus in that scenario - any of the disciples that got in trouble , it was I who got sent to the Principal's office . One day , one of the "disciples" , Lesley Griffith refused to wear her bloomers to PE  and Ms.Ritchie , the PE teacher , sent me to the office and when I asked why was I being sent as I had on my bloomers and certainly had not told Lesley not to wear hers, Ms. Ritchie told me " because Lesley would never have decided to do this on her own "  so I realized the teachers saw me as a leader, always a good thing to be in life . The third thing I learnt was about love -  I am an adoption and when I found this out at 18 , I called the "disciples" one by one to tell them the news and found out that they all knew . One of them had overheard her parents talking about it from when we were in first form and had told the rest of the "disciples" warning them that I didn't know and that the Principal had said that I wasn't to be told yet because I was too highly strung and none of them told me because they didn't want to hurt me . Now if that isn't love I don't know what is - which set of 12- 18 year olds holds news like that ? Unconditional love.
Thank you St. Hugh's.