I became a late-night talk show guest. Jay Leno, you ask? David Letterman? Not quite. Does Otakar Svoboda ring a bell?

It was 9 p.m. Sept. 17 when a car and driver pulled up outside our hotel in Prague, in the Czech Republic, and whisked my husband, Denny, and me through narrow, winding streets to a tall, brightly lit building topped with a neon sign heralding Czech TV 24. I was to be a guest on the national 24-hour news station’s popular program, “Current Events in Culture,” hosted by Otakar Svoboda.

We were met in an empty lobby by a producer and taken to the green room, which, by the way, was white. A girl with maroon hair and black lips dusted my nose with makeup. I was relieved by her restraint. When the host introduced himself, he surprised me by saying he had been to the museum and had fond memories of Cedar Rapids.

While video of the June flood in Cedar Rapids flashed on the screen, he looked me in the eye and asked, “What is the situation of the national museum of my countrymen?” The Czech Republic was watching.

That kind of intensity has been the story of my life since the flood.

Expectations are always high, but now we’re talking not only about survival but the need to make an even bigger impact. This tragedy has made real to me, in an even more personal way, the importance of what we do. It’s also a sleep deprivation incentive, if there ever was one. 

In those late nights, I ponder the complexities of how not to let a crisis go to waste. My community - and the world - is watching.