I have mentioned before that both my mom used to use her children as her sounding board before
giving a talk or presenting a lesson.
For my mom, it was a lack of confidence in herself. She needed the feedback, the practice, the
input to build up her confidence. She
yearned for ideas on how to improve. She
would go over it again and again until we knew it better than she did - or at
least in the case of Corey and me.
Roland does the same thing - only he does not lack
confidence. I thought he did it for
validation - but he says it is because he values my opinion. Talks and lessons are one thing, but lately
his ideas and thoughts have had to do with his participation at the
theatre. I am not in the theatre. I am not part owner in the theatre. I don't manage, perform or have any input
with the owners. I know my personal
preference varies with theirs and certainly with Roland's.
It isn't his job to write the skit, but he was asked to
emcee and somehow feels obligated to contribute more. He'd like to do a "Burns &
Allen" type skit while reading a story to a seagull puppet. I suppose my input was helpful as Roland's
first choice of story was out of the Bible and suggested he change it to
"Twas the Night Before Christmas" as it is a familiar one, and
cracking jokes (even a childish innocence) after every other line would go over
better with the audience than offending several audience members with lines
like "Why did the wisemen bring gold and frankenstien and not diapers?" or "espoused wife? you mean they weren't even married?" and gear his jokes toward Santa Clause and the
reindeer.
Some of the jokes were funny. I smiled at a few of them, but never laughed
out loud. I certainly wasn't providing a
belly laugh that I suspect Roland was looking for. Jenna provides more sincere laughter, and is
able to re-laugh at a joke she's heard before - but each time he tells the same
joke, I give a weak smile and sometimes roll my eyes when he isn't
looking. The freshness has worn off for
me. Though he is proud of his
contribution and shares the praises and compliments he's received for creating
laughter, it has gotten stale. I don't
even smile anymore.
When Corey and I give talks, we practice on
ourselves. It's rare for each of us to
call on another to sit through something that he or she will be sitting through
in church or elsewhere. We want it to be
fresh for them just as we would like to hear it fresh. Neither way is wrong or right. They are just different is all.
