My Pageant Speech

A week later it was time to meet the judges and have our one-on-one interviews. The contestants all wore their Sunday best and Mark Eaton, number 53 of the Jazz basketball team was in our midst to help us with our speeches for the pageant.

As you've learned through this blog, I act like me, not allowing any reaction or snide comment to phase me outwardly. People I love and respect figured this out many years ago and  have just come to accept me as I am. So if I never change for them, then why in the world would I comply to the outside world's views?

Right away I was excited because we were placed at different tables, which gave me a chance to get to know several other contestants more intimately (Awesome!).

After we ate breakfast (I had Michelle take her turn tasting...HA! HA! I got her back! LOL) it was time to start the interview process. During which Mark Eaton went from girl to girl reviewing what we wanted to tell others about us, which had to be done in two minutes. Here's my final draft:

    One hot August day I awoke in a hospital bed with 3 stern doctors standing over me,...six months earlier I was dancing for a living, with no cares in the world. Not knowing what had happened, I glanced down, and saw my leg mangled beyond recognition, ravaged by the flesh eating virus. Doctors proclaimed; I would live my life as an invalid. At first I believed them, but eventually my tenacious spirit could not be held back by depression or the medical opinions of human beings. I decided that what counted in my life was what God and I thought was possible.

I wanted to be a good example for my children So I stepped out on faith and went back to college. I was scared, but God helped me through it. I proved to others and myself alike that; No matter the obstacles life puts in your way, YOU can accomplish anything you set your mind to do, with perseverance,…family… and God!

All this has helped me to realize that; I’m not disabled. I’m different-abled! I do things differently than others. I also found a new better me in the process. Someone who is unafraid to try new and unusual things. Someone more excepting. Someone more loving. Someone I could be proud of. Mostly someone my children and grandchildren can be proud of!…I am blessed and so are you!

When they called me for my first seven minute interview with the judges, I was nervous,  but I prayed and put myself in God's hands...


Then even the bravest soldier, whose hearts is like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your Father is a fighter and that those with him are brave.
2nd Samuel 17:10

I am blessed

Merrym Dawn Mathis Bruce