What a great group of people at Cypress Wesleyan Church. I had so much fun with the women from this church. 
Three leaders of the women’s group at this church had been on the ‘Girls’ Getaway Cruise’ that I spoke on, last year, and they enjoyed it so much they tried to re-create a little piece of that cruise for everyone else! No seriously, it turns out that one of the pastors, Dale, counsels many couples who are going through marital problems, and he often gives away copies of For Women Only and For Men Only. So the church decided to make it a two-fer event, and they had me speak to the women of the church as a Tuesday night ‘Ladies Night Out’ 
and then speak to the men at a men’s breakfast the next morning. I didn’t know how many men would show up at 7:00 a.m. to hear a woman explain how their wives are wired. but apparently after hearing all about men the night before, all the wives twisted their husbands’ arms and so we had a lot of men show up the next morning! I don’t know how many, but the coffee shop was packed.
Another thing that was terrific was that I got a chance to touch base with my research assistant, Tally, who lives in that area of OH. She came to my talk and we had a few minutes to speak afterwards. I’m always so amazed that I have this incredibly talented research assistant and i talk to her via phone and email multiple times a week - and I’ve only met her twice now! It was a real blessing to be able to tell her again, in person, how much it means to me to have someone of her caliber helping me on the weekly opinion column that I write, that is now syndicated in about 45 newspapers. She’s a real gift.
The other element of the trip that was extremely helpful was that the church arranged several interviews for me with business-men in the area. There’s actually quite a few major corporations in that part of Ohio as well, and so the church put the word out that I was looking to interview business-men as part of my research for the new book. And so they set up two interviews with two high-level corporate guys in the area. Anonymous, of course, so I can’t say who they are. But their input was so valuable. I’m really feeling like my research is finally moving along at a really good clip and I’m learning what questions to ask to dig into the surprises that women just don’t ‘get’ about the men they work with - but really need to know. And I’m so grateful at the number of men who are willing to give me a big chunk of their time in an already-busy day just to share their thoughts - without getting anything in return. I know a lot of women have concerns that some men are trying to hold them back or don’t want them as women to advance, but honestly, so far, all the men I’ve interviewed - including the total strangers I talk to on airplanes - have a real interest in speaking to me and answering my questions because they really want to help women. Its been really encouraging to see.