Journal Jar

This week, I've been cleaning out drawers and cupboards that have been collecting stuff (aka junk!) and found a "journal jar". It's a quart sized mason jar with a million strips of paper on it that has questions that you can answer than will help you put together an interesting story of your life. I've decided that once a week, I'm going to pull out a slip of paper and blog my answer.... here goes:

Question: Were you ever in a play? Which one? When?

Short Answer: Yes, Snow White, 5th grade.

Long Answer: So when I was in Elementary School (Eugene Padan Elementary, aka Padan) we had the most amazing music teacher. This was before California Education had to cut music due to lack of funds. Her name was Mrs. Blair. She was also LDS, but I don't think I knew that while I was in Elementary School. Anyway, every year she put on a big musical production and she called the club that sponsored these events "Kids R Music". We all had these totally 80's tshirts with a cool 80's logo on them... and I was always involved in the show, but never on stage. I sang in the chorus mostly. One year, my brother (Adam) tried out for a speaking part in the play (Snow White) and landed the part of Bashful. Isn't that cute? He actually did a really good job, but didn't really "speak" that much, because you know Bashful was really shy. I don't remember how it actually happened, but Mrs. Blair needed extra kids to be on stage as forest animals. No speaking required, just being cute, etc. So, I did it. I can't remember if someone came to me and asked me to do it, or if I volunteered of my own free will and choice, but in the end, I was cast as a "skunk". If I had known the ramifications of that for the rest of my life in Elementary School, I would have backed out and never gone back. The other kids were bunnies, squirrels, deer, etc. and yet Mrs. Blair thought I could handle being a skunk! (Maybe she knew I had "tough skin" even back then, and thought I could handle it!) Anyway, I spent 2 hours on the stage being a skunk. The most memorable moment for me was after Snow White had eaten the apple and we had to go and find the dwarves... we got to pull and tug them across the stage to go find Snow White. A good friend of mine was cast in the role as Dopey. We teased each other about the play for years... she called me "skunky" and I retorted right back with "at least I wasn't Dopey!" I'm sure my mom has pictures somewhere from this event - especially since both her children were on stage performing together - something that never happened again! What did I learn from this experience? Stay behind the scenes - it's a much better place to be!