You never know what a day is going to bring… Tonight I sat at the same table during a banquet with Texas State Senator Wendy Davis. Senator Davis, a Harvard Law School graduate, served on the Ft. Worth city council for many years before being elected to the Texas Senate in 2008. She is a very personable lady.

She was the guest speaker this evening for a law enforcement related conference being held in Granbury this weekend. My background as a speech educator always comes to the surface during such occasions. I can’t just listen to a speech like a normal person. I am always doing an internal critique. Ms. Davis gets an A+ for her presentation. She was very well prepared with relevant statistics and stories. She cited an incident in Ft. Worth that led to an officer in their department receiving a valor award. Her details were correct and her pronunciation names were flawless. But the fact based data was not the best part of her speech.

At one point, Senator Davis veered off her notes and spoke from the heart. Former Ft. Worth Police Chief Robert Windam is now deceased. (He served as chief from 1985 until his death in 2000)  She worked with him for several years in her role as a councilwoman. The senator’s description of his leadership abilities and her perceptions of his character were very inspiring. Again let me stress…she did not use notes during that part of the speech. She just spoke from the heart.

I needed to hear her speech tonight. It was good for me. As a speaker, I can have leanings toward being overly factual. (That probably stems from my background as a debater in high school.) I am a  tickler for being well prepared with sufficient information that is well documented. I know that is a good core value, if it is not carried to the extreme.

The best part of Senator Davis’ speech was when she veered off the notes and spoke from the heart. It is the part of her presentation that I will remember for months to come. I was paying attention tonight. I think it would serve me well to emulate that quality when I speak to groups in the various roles I serve. My sweet bride told me not long ago that I needed to speak more like I write. Most of my writing is done from the heart.

I am grateful that I got to sit with Ms. Davis this evening. I wish time would have allowed us to have visited more at the table. I think could have learned all kinds of things from an intelligent lady like her. She was real with the crowd. She spoke from the heart. She gave me good reason to celebrate the journey of life this evening by being a source of inspiration.   I guess hanging out with a senator is a good thing…