Randy, I just heard from a mother who was in the front row at Gorham High School with her 9-year old son. They LOVED your performance.

But, the little boy was sure you had lost your mind. He kept saying to his
mother, “Someone should tell that man that there is no rope. That poor man
actually thinks he has a rope and there isn’t a rope.” The mother told me he
had never seen mime before so she tried to explain to him what you were
doing. He just didn’t get it – he is still talking about the man who thought
he had a rope.

By the way, this boy was one of the kids you had conducting the German
orchestra – he loved that part, too.

This woman told me that she recently moved back to Gorham, and someone gave her the buttons to go to New Year Gorham as a “welcome” gift to Gorham. She felt her life was turned around on New Year’s Eve because they forgot all their troubles, laughed, laughed, and felt welcome.

Heartwarming stories like that make me happy!

AIRED ON JANUARY 12TH, 2013
This week’s theme – Appreciative Innovation
on WLOB’s Mind Your Own Business Radio – with Host Debi Davis on WLOB every Saturday at 9am
Copyright © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Guest Co Host
Susan deGrandpre
Author, Commonsense Workplace Mentoring
Owner, Collaboration Consulting

‘Back in the day’ as I was scoping out this popular outdoor lunch venue, I knew one of the features of this noontime hotspot was a convenient diagonal shortcut for pedestrians. On this particular site, it sported a soggy reminder of the previous day’s precipitation – a small puddle.

Now, I had learned quite early in my career that it is better to be in harmony with your surroundings than ignoring them. Luckily that day, I had brought along an old suit coat I acquired from Goodwill. It was this very item that became the focus of my 90 minute street performing assignment as I would repeatedly take off the coat and lay it down – ‘Sir Walter Raleigh Style’ to protect passing women (and men too) from literally getting ‘wet feet’. During the entire hour and a half, I willingly allowed my well choreographed juggling, magic and improvisational sketches to be continually interrupted by dozens of diagonal path passersby approaching the tiny pool. In a matter of moments, I had the coat spread out over the danger spot. This gentlemanly invitation created a mounting expectation and hopefulness from the curious crowd. Each time someone ignored or stepped around the outstretched coat, which was now a bit soggy itself, the gallery of viewers increased as the laughter transitioned to animated groans of disappointment.

I had come to the end of my scheduled time without anyone daring to walk on my grounded coat. Maya Angelou wrote, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” You must know that I did not want to leave that highly charged situation without succeeding to coax at least one person to walk on my coat. (I decided to perform silently that day). Well, after about eight additional minutes, a smartly dressed woman did stroll down the diagonal path and finally stepped onto my suit coat to resounding and delightful applause. Mission accomplished! I’m guessing many of those onlookers returned to their workplaces with, perhaps like me, a wonderful feeling of satisfaction.

This was a wonderful Visiting Artist Gig at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri from January to March 2010.

My students were dance and theatre majors learning Circus Skills including Juggling, Mime, Unicycling, Character Studies, Slapstick, Stiltwalking and Globe Walking.

SHS gave me this T-shirt

When I’m asked, “What are some highlights of your many years of entertaining?”, I always include experiencing standing ovations from my audiences. It’s my feeling that these spontaneous and physical bursts of validation rank somewhere in between an “I love you, daddy” and shooting a birdie on a golf course. (I always wear two pairs of pants when I play golf, in case I get a hole-in-one!) And probably the most standing ovations I’ve received from any one ‘sponsor’ definitely come from every tenth grade class from Sanford High School for the last 15 years. The sophomore class has an annual off-campus two day event that includes a variety of presentations on teen issues. My piece is called Full Esteem Ahead, and runs roughly an hour.

Well, it happened again on May 17, 2012! That simple gesture was, all at once, exhilarating, humbling, encouraging and satiating. I felt like the entire audience of those 250+ sophomores, the upper class mentors, and the two dozen adult advisors all embraced me simultaneously!

I’ve come to realize that a standing ovation is a wonderful ‘perk’ of being a live performer. And like my seldom scored birdie on the links, it keeps me coming back. Do look to your own ‘standing ovations’ moments and celebrate them often. I certainly do!

We were invited to dine with the extended family. Then after a short introduction we entertained all ages as our Maine-iac characters, Russell Spurwink, Emmit Pickitt and Sunny Day. These private audience members were extremely responsive and  appreciative of our original, playful songs and comedic sketches. Our thanks to them as well for letting us give the gift of laughter and for being ‘part of the Merry family’ for an afternoon!

On Thursday evening of that week, I performed a public concert – the gymnasium was packed with standing room only. The show was received extremely well. The next morning at Thompson’s, I was invited from the counter to join a small group of this establishment’s ‘regulars’ in a nearby booth. A couple of them had attended the previous night’s performance and were quite complimentary. “You done good” meant they loved it! Well, I felt ‘some special’, so I splurged and ordered pancakes with real maple syrup. The waitress said, “Sorry, we only have imitation syrup”. It was hard masking my disappointment!

Well, I had another spectacular day of workshops which ended with choreographing some students in a number for their upcoming musical. As parents arrived to pick up their teenage thespians, I recognized this guy from the booth at breakfast that same morning. He shook my hand and said, “Thanks for all you’ve done with these kids this week. You’ve brought a lot of joy to them, and to this small community.” He then handed me a small paper bag and added, “This is for you.”  Other parents and students quickly stepped in to offer their heartfelt thanks and exchange good-byes with me. As I grabbed my belongings, the space had cleared and my curiosity got the better of me. I swiftly yet gently unrolled the paper bag to reveal a mason jar of home made, grade A amber maple syrup. My long drive back home to southern Maine was filled with a week’s full of delightful memories. And YES… the next morning I made buttermilk pancakes drenched with the best tasting maple syrup I’ve ever had!

On the designated day, I dressed up with my best attempt to look like a jester from that era. When I asked this eager group, “Why did they also refer to this period of time as the Dark Ages?” One young boy’s hand shot up. I called on him, asked his name and Jason said, “Because there were so many knights!” “Great answer”, I quickly said, and quizzed him further. “And what was the role of the jester in those times?” Well, I knew I had a ‘ringer’ when he replied, “The jester entertained the king and queen and the whole court with juggling, magic, singing, jokes, acrobatics and music. This was before there was TV.” Very impressive, I thought. So my follow-up question was “What did the king do when the jester lost his touch or made mistakes?” This well informed 3rd grade boy replied in a somewhat precocious manner, “The king would call for the guards, who would then chop off his head or kick him out of the kingdom.” He gestured with a straight arm and his finger pointing which clearly implied ‘Get Out of town’.

Wow, this articulate 9 year old apparently had a memory like a steel trap. I proceeded to demonstrate a series of juggling tricks I had spent years to perfect. I seriously took a lot of pride in this accomplishment. Three balls with a dozen pattern variations. Four balls followed with no mishaps and then five. During the five ball juggle, two of them collided and flew off into separate corners of the room. Jason quickly stood up, gestured with his straight arm and said, “GUARDS!”

I felt so embarrassed when I heard Jason’s perfectly timed quip. I was clearly shaken and rapidly scooped up the wandering spheres, made a lame comment and quickly ended the session. As I drove home later that afternoon, I reflected on my embarrassment and disappointment in myself. By the time I reached my driveway, I came to the conclusion that if I cannot laugh at myself, it’s going to be a long and difficult journey. So from that moment on, I look at most mistakes as an opportunity to joyfully improvise. Thanks Jason. You taught me a lifelong lesson.