Sharing is Caring. It’s also super uncomfortable.

found on The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre

I am so very not into sharing stuff. It comes from my great talent at sharing too much without meaning to. And sometimes I share too much about other people with whom the listeners are friends, and then it’s a whole messy kerfuffle.

So, anyway. I’m not a big sharer.

However, I do like a dare. And I don’t like to back away from agreements. Unfortunately, I liked a FB status without reading it all the way through, and suddenly I was given a seven that represents the number of items I’m supposed to share. Michelle Longo turned it into a blog post, so I figure it’s fair game. See how much I’ve shared already? Onward!

1. I’m wicked shy, and no one ever believes me. I figured out some time in college that my shyness actually made me seem like a huge snob. I am a bit of a snob, but not a huge one.

2. I learned to speak German before I learned English, and I learned English from my neighbor, which explains the Michigan accent I had as a preschooler.

3. I was costume mistress as a sophomore in high school. It meant I had to a) measure inseams and b) sew inseams. This was both exciting and extremely uncomfortable. You see, no one told me I could more easily measure inseams when the pants were OFF the people who would wear them. I’m sure most of the super confident-seeming, charismatic Drammies (I’ve never had to spell that before) thought I was deranged.

4. I worked as a dishwasher when I was 16. It was the only opening at the Friendly Restaurant within walking distance to my house. I loved it. The back room was where people came to complain or to count tips, and it was *my* space. It was a great way to get to know the staff without pressure to perform. Waitressing made a lot more money, but you had to put up with a lot more crap.

5. I sincerely like a lot of kiddie music. I like Music Together music for its age-appropriate style and joy. I sometimes listen to the Coal Train Railroad or Coconut Moon from the Green Chili Band in the car, even when the kids aren’t there. Yes, my kids also love Queen and The Beatles and The Indigo Girls and various songs from Elo’s Playlist, but we all like the kiddie stuff too.

6. Speaking of musical tastes, I LOVE Broadway musicals. I saw my first one, Evita, at eleven years old. Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. How could I not? I used ALL my money — $12 — to buy the cassette tape of the cast recording after the show. And that started my habit of singing loudly and poorly to cassettes in my bedroom. Cabaret, Godspell, Grease, Pippin, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Chorus Line gave me the opportunity to be dramatic in private. I never saw another show — except for on the junior high and high school stage — until Miss Saigon in college. And then Les Miz, Cats, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Wicked, and on and on. Oh the melodrama! Oh the bitter sobbing! I love it all.

7. When I was pregnant with my first, my husband came home to his vegetarian (newly pescatarian) wife hunched over two just about empty tins of herring in mustard sauce that she had purchased at the Polish corner shop two blocks away. It made the entire apartment smell, but it was so worth it.

Not too much sharing, right? And many of you can heave sighs of relief that I didn’t reveal any of the details in the stories I know about you.