Breakfast meeting brings some sweet ideas

Last Thursday I got up and left the house early for a breakfast meeting.

I do that whenever I can.

Every month there are at least one or two interesting meetings, forums and events that are held so professionals can network and learn in an atmosphere frequently centered around sweet rolls, coffee and conversation.

I go because I like that kind of thing. I like meeting new people and getting to know others better. I like to listen to interesting speakers. And, I’ll be honest. I like to take the occasional break from the predictable morning chaos of getting kids out the door and to school on time.

I like a day off.

I do it for professional reasons as well. I always come back to my desk with a stack of business cards. And I frequently bring a story prospect back with me.

And, well, I like sweet rolls.

Last week I had breakfast in a room full of women. There were two or three men there, including the mayor, but it was definitely a gathering of women.

And that is fitting because March 8 was International Women’s Day – a day dedicated to the end of discrimination and abuse against girls and women around the world.

In some countries – as it was pointed out to the mayor more than once – International Women’s Day is a holiday. A day off.

Not here. Not yet.

The event was an inspired idea. Lisa Rosier, a get-it-done Aussie who hasn’t been in Spokane all that long, and Yvonne Lopez-Morton, a woman who’s been deeply involved with people and issues in the region for quite some time, put their heads together and came up with the idea of a citywide breakfast.

Over plates of eggs (and, of course, sweet rolls), wearing ribbons to celebrate those who had paved the way, more than 100 women gathered to talk about and honor others.

Holding masks of famous women who overcame obstacles and left a distinct mark on history, some read short biographies. Then they spoke the name or names of women who had been influential in their lives.

Mothers, heroes, co-workers and, in the mayor’s case, wives were honored.

Anne Kirkpatrick, the chief of police – a woman whose sincerity, graciousness and determination to be tough when it’s called for are perfectly matched by her self-deprecating humor and talent for communicating with the public – spoke, too.

She talked about her mother and grandmother. Women who have made an impact on her life. And she spoke of her own pride in being a woman. A woman in what is still sometimes seen as a man’s job.

Another speaker reminded us all that as women we came into the world hardwired with a unique physiological and psychological skill set for interaction. And that instinct for interaction is our primary tool for changing the world.

As I listened, I looked around at the faces of the women at my table and at the other tables in the room.

There was a lot of potential in that room.

That may have been the first International Women’s Day breakfast Rossier and Lopez-Morton have organized in Spokane. But I’ve got a feeling it won’t be the last.

Next year’s event will be larger, and each year after that.

I left convinced that in the future more and more women, people who are so good at getting together to get great things done, will gather and sing and celebrate.

And year by year, as interest grows, change will come and ideas will roll.

Now that will be sweet.