A Word from A
WAHM
"Oprah
Called"
- ©
1999, by Cheryl Demas
-
- What a week.
Last Wednesday, at about 3:00,
the phone rang.
"Cheryl? This is John Doe (names cleverly changed to protect
the innocent) from the Oprah Show." I'm not kidding ...
it really was the Oprah Show, ... calling me! Can you believe
it?
We talked about WAHM.com for
awhile and then he said, "Don't get excited, but would you
like to share your story with Oprah, and are you available next
Tuesday?"
Don't get excited? That's like
saying "Eat this coconut cream pie but don't gain weight."Of
course I was available, I didn't mention that we were actually
planning a trip to Disneyland .... hey kids, Chicago can be fun
too! I hung up with the understanding that this was all very
up in the air, but a possibility.
After I was off the phone I started
jumping around the house and screaming "That was Oprah!
That was Oprah!" My 4-year-old hid behind the couch and
my 12-year-old was nonchalant. "Yea? So? " I guess
she's always believed me when I've told her "I'm going to
be on Oprah someday." Of course, Oprah would call, isn't
that what Mom always said would happen? I even had an outfit
pre-selected, I had always told her, "When I'm on Oprah,
I'm buying this outfit. "
So we went shopping. I bought
the Oprah outfit, got my hair cut ... I wanted to be ready if
we were to go to Chicago. And then I waited, and waited. ...
After a couple days it became apparent that I wasn't going to
be on the show after all. We continued with our Disney vacation
plans, taking Chicago clothes with us just in case, and I continued
to call home to check messages.
My Oprah contact did call back
and said that they had enough people for the show but liked my
story and might be able to work it into a future show. I don't
know if that is the standard brush-off or if I still have a chance,
but it was certainly exciting while it lasted.
We had a great time at Disneyland
and we're home again. Now, I've returned the outfit, considering
it cost more than we usually spend on groceries each month, and
it's not the kind of thing I wear around the house anyway.
But ... looking back all I can
say is ... I'm so disappointed.
Now, if I was Tony Robbins, or
a great motivator, this is when I'd flash a huge smile and say,
"But did that get me down? NO! I don't let a little disappointment
get ME down. I picked myself up and brushed myself off and the
next day I made a million dollars and Barbara Walters called!"
But I'm not Tony, I'm Cheryl.
I wish I had a great story to tell you. How to get over disappointments
in your business, how to keep going when things aren't going
well. I wish I had some insight into staying motivated after
a let down. But I'm not in the mood right now.
I want to sleep until noon, then
get up and watch All My Children while eating a banana split
and drinking a margarita and then go back to bed.
Maybe I'll have a motivational
speech for you next week, but right now I have to run out to
the store, we're getting low on chocolate syrup.
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