Tuesday greetings, My Friend!
I don’t know if it was seeing part of the Emmy’s last night, and hearing a few people say, “Gosh, I didn’t even prepare a speech because I didn’t think I’d win!” (come on, people, my speech has been prepared for 47 years and I’m not even famous) but I got to thinking about school talent shows. Did your school have one?
Our music teacher, Mrs. Hartwig, put together a bit of a variety show every year and called it a “Hootenanny.” We had to audition and hope to get a spot in this annual event. I believe it was all music-driven acts. Some kids simply sang along to a “45” that they had, but many had the principal soloist with a couple of “backup singers” in the background—Tony Orlando and Dawn style. (I’ll wait a sec while you younger folks Google Tony Orlando and Dawn. . . . . . . OK, ready?)
I don’t remember what grade we were in, but my best friend, Linda, and I went all out, working up a routine to a song called Stand Up! Sit Down! Shut Your Mouth! by a singer named Ferlin Husky. It was the craziest song I’d ever heard. It must have belonged to Linda’s parents because it was not one of ours. Man, oh man, did we work on that routine! This was going to be it, y’all. This was going to be my ticket to Hollywood!
The song lyrics say, “Stand up, sit down, shut your mouth!” And then there’s a boom-boom-boom. We did all the things the song told us to do: we stood up, we sat down, and on the boom-boom-boom, we smacked our mouths three times with the music. And on the song went, and on we went with our actions. We, the children of DuPont Grade School, voted—and guess what?
We did it! We got a spot in the Hootenanny! Yesss!!!!
Nothing could stop us now! We were on our way! Too bad America’s Got Talent wasn’t around back then, because we could have brought our stand-up, sit-down, and mouth-smacking to a much larger audience! Yeah, we were flying high on the sound of applause and cheers from the crowd. Until . . . .
. . . the following year, when we were all one year older and had started separating into cool kids and not-so-cool kids. My artistic partner and I fell more into the latter category. But still, another show was in the works, and by gum, we were going to go out there and knock ’em dead once more.
We worked all summer on our next song. This year’s selection was Love Potion No. 9 by The Searchers. I played the part of the gypsy, Madam Rue, and Linda was the one in search of . . . Love Potion Number Nine! Costumes! Props! You name it, we used it! It’s what our fans wanted!
Except we soon found out we didn’t have fans anymore. We didn’t get picked that year.
Yep. There were way cuter girls singing much more current songs. They weren’t wearing their mother’s dress-up clothes and jewelry. We had to face it: We were yesterday’s news.
Fast forward a billion years to about 1997, when we first moved to Florida. Guess what was happening at my kids’ elementary school? A TALENT SHOW!
My then 5th-grade daughter, Maria, had become friends with two neighbor girls, Kathy and Sarah. Both of these girls were quite accomplished in gymnastics, and the three decided to work up a gymnastics routine and audition for the show. Now, Maria was not a gymnast (she was a dancer), but she could turn a somersault, and basically became the “ta-da” girl. When the other two did a flip, cartwheel, or handstand, Maria would stand to the side in a “ta-da!” pose, meant to spur on applause. At the time, we had just moved into our house and had a completely empty living room (with cringey pink carpeting), so they had the perfect space to practice. However . . . .
. . . . they didn’t get chosen for the show.
That’s OK, we were good sports—we went to the show anyway to support everyone else. And, oh, for crying out loud, just how many different versions of “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic did we have to listen to? Someone sang it as a solo. Two others sang it as a duet. A small group sang it as a triple trio. Really? Couldn’t we have had a few somersaults and roundoffs in there to lighten the mood? Something to “ta-da” over?? My heart did go on, but I couldn’t wait to get out of there!
Well, as life would have it, I never did make it to the big leagues, even though I still wonder if there’s a talent scout out there who’s going to see me do something and jump out and say, “That’s it! You’re just what I’ve been looking for!” and hand me a role in the next Oscar-winning film.
Yeah—no, that ain’t gonna happen.
This morning I was writing in my journal. I don’t write every day, but pretty often. I was writing on the last page of that particular journal. I’ll add it to the pile of filled ones I have from years and years of writing. I looked at the very first page, curious to see what I’d written about. It was from just about two years ago. It was a very ordinary day. I had quite ordinary thoughts, and there was nothing profound there. I was thankful for my family. I prayed for each one.
And then I began to write on the final page of that book. Two years later. Pretty much the same ordinary life. The same ordinary thoughts and prayers. I prayed for and was thankful for my family. And I thought, how happy and blessed I am with my ordinary life.
I may not have made it big in Hollywood. I may not have even made it big in Wellington. But I wouldn’t change my blessed and ordinary life for anything. I hope you feel the same way about your life.
Written with love – – – Patti XOXO
PS – I’m going on a trip with Kevin to Scotland and Ireland, so I won’t get to write to you again until October 7. Enjoy the next couple of weeks! Be encouraged!