This past weekend, nine of us Walmart Moms were brought to Bentonville, Arkansas to meet with some of the executives that work at the Home Office. It’s been a long time since we first talked about getting together out there. It was very cool that it finally happened.

When I agreed to make the trip, I wasn’t sure what to expect out of it. I knew we were going to be meeting with a few of the higher ranking people at the home office, I just didn’t know how those meetings would go. I was in for a surprise. Let’s start at the very beginning though.

Thursday was my day of travel. I spent the morning with the girls and hubby, and doing my last minute packing. My plane left out at around 230pm… Off I went to Charlotte…. then on to Fayetteville, AR. I was so excited to see everyone and to see what was in store for us. We knew that we’d be meeting with people at the Home Office,  attend the Shareholders’ Meeting and the Saturday Morning Meeting… all in just two days… It was definitely a jam packed schedule.. but I was excited! Until I got to baggage claim. One of the other Walmart Moms, Jenn Fowler, was there waiting for me… We were going to take the same shuttle to the hotel. My suitcase never showed up. To make a long story short, it nearly took a miracle to get my suitcase to me so I’d have my necessities in time for the Shareholders’ Meeting… We had to leave the hotel at 530am… My miracle came in the form of an awesome Airport Shuttle company, Jim’s Express Shuttle… Look them up if you’re ever in the Bentonville area!

Friday morning brought the Shareholders’ Meeting which was somewhat like being at the Grammy’s. It was a whole lot of business, but it was FUN! I don’t think numbers have ever interested me so much. The best part of the whole event though… was the personal stories, the stories from the employees in various countries whose lives have been changed (for the better) because of Walmart. We first heard the story of an associate from Malaysia who now is a store manager in Canada. We heard stories about how the quality of life has been improved for not only the employees but the patrons of the stores in India, and how an associate in Japan learned sign language to better help out her hearing impaired customers. There were so many stories that just tugged at our hearts… It put a very personal touch to a company that we hear all too much corporate things about. It made me proud to be a Walmart Mom. If you want to see some of the action at the Shareholders’ Meeting, you can watch the replay of it here, and check out the conversation on Twitter here.

After the Shareholders’ Meeting, we went to Walmart’s Home Office. We sat down with some of the biggest names in the company. We learned about Walmart’s sustainability efforts, what’s been done successfully and what’s being worked on still. We learned about some of the great new projects Walmart is working on… including some of the new Family Moments movies coming up! We also got to meet with Stephen Quinn (Exec VP & CMO) and voice our concerns about issues we’ve experienced or heard about from our readers. He not only listened intently, but he also went and got the heads of other departments to find out answers right away. It wasn’t just note taking and “I’ll get back to you later”. It was “How can we fix it?” and “Let’s get it done now”. It was so nice to actually be listened to and taken seriously. We opened up a great line of communication… and I invite you.. my readers.. to feel free to use my contact page if you ever experience an issue in your local store that isn’t resolved in a timely manner. I want to let you know that I am here to listen and to help… and THEY want to work on fixing things to make them better for their customers.

We also attended the Monthly Saturday Morning Meeting… We weren’t allowed to take photos or video in there, but it was also pretty intense. It was another morning of highlighting their employees. There were people there celebrating 20, 25, 30 & 35+ years with the company… To even think about having a job that you love enough to be able to stay with for so many years… That’s just amazing. I want a job like that..

All in all, it was a very awesome weekend. I went away with great feelings and hope that as a Walmart Mom, I’ll be able to make a difference… even from my itty bitty part of the interwebs.  Thanks Walmart for listening and providing me with such a great opportunity.

*I am a Walmart Mom. My trip was paid for by Walmart. The opinions in this post are my own.