It is ten 'til midnight, the time of day when I should at least be taking my night meds and going through all the rest of the nightly maintenance required before I can trundle off to sleep, apnea mask in place but tonight I need to take a moment just to revel in what I do for a living although as of late if it were not for the support of my loving wife I would probably be homeless by now if my "making a living" wage be known.
I guess I should back up and tell you that this afternoon, out of the pure goodness of her heart, Kim had decided to accompany me to try to sell some of my "merchandise" at the Central Wisconsin Cooperative Christmas Party of which I was to be a part. but I was being a beast, snapping at her for the least indiscretion that my nervous mind might conjure. You see, when I have been separated from performance for as long as I have been this time around, I become extremely agitated because I feel that I won't be able to do a decent show. consequently I am not much fun to be around.
Feeling pressured that I was going to be late added to my discontent but once I had fed the pertinent data into my GPS I relaxed a bit as the trip was going to take a lot less time than I had projected. to top it off, I whizzed right by my destination and didn't realize it until I reached Stratford. I knew the Country Aire was north of Stratford but the little man in the GPS is not totally trustworthy and remained mum while I did a u-turn and headed back up Highway 97.
Even at that I arrived in time to set up my gear when I was supposed to while Kim set up a card table and a display of CD's a DVD, and Tee Shirts.
By the time we sat down to dinner (one of the perks of being an after dinner performer) I had finally relaxed and had chosen my opening bit. So of course after I was introduced, I started with something totally different, swung quickly into my Christmas song parodies after explaining that they originated at military and deer camps.
Here's where it gets really difficult for me to try to explain to you why I love my job so much. My opening went so well that the crowd was hanging on my every punch line and every solid laugh I elicited from them washed over me like healing waters.
I found a really good groove very early in the show, my tempo was outstanding, and my forty five minutes flew by in an instant.
to hear people laugh freely from their bellies, from their very souls is what I live for and when I had finished my presentation I could feel the warmth of my audience, touch the electricity in the room.
A woman that I had been watching throughout the show just because she was having so much fun came up to tell me so after the show. And I thanked her and told here how much inspiration she had given me to do my best.
So here I am, back at the office, nursing the stove back to life, thinking about a pot of coffee but knowing that would be a bad mistake at this juncture. I just called Kim and told her not to wait up for me. She has movie plans with Sarah on the morrow. I don't even have Packer football this sunday so why not stay up late and sleep in for as long as I damn well please in the morning?
Hey! I've earned it!
____________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment