something that made me smile

I went over a very Jess's house for dinner tonight, actually Brittany and I went over for dinner tonight. Brittany, Jess, and I have gotten really, really close this past year and we often get together every couple of weeks to just catch up on our busy lives and talk about whatever is going on with it. But that's all besides the point. What I'm really writing about is something that made me smile.

So last night, I went to the first ever Longwood Talent Show. It was alright, only few of the acts were exceptionally good but whatever, it's high school. And as with high school talent shows, there were a few very mediocre performances, i.e. pitch-challenged acapella acts. But whatever, I'm never ever going to knock kids for doing they want to do because they love doing it. But there were some really rude people sitting in the audience, some of them were so inconsiderate and had the audacity to giglle and snicker during one of the student's performances. I don't know whether the laughs were audible to the performer, but nonetheless it's still super rude and can intimidate the person on stage. What really amazed me though was the booming voice, I imagine of a big black lady, probably a mother, yelling behind me through the auditorium. I probably won't ever forget the message she sent through the room last night. Through the singing and the snickering, Big Black Mama shouted, "You do your thing girl!"

Once again the voice and the message of the probable-mother in the back of the audience reveberated in my head. When I was over Jess's house, I was looking at the photographs and whatever flaps of paper adorning her refridgerator, as I often do when I'm over other people's houses, (Is that rude?). One particular ornament caught my eye, it was a colorfull, small paper titled, "101 Reasons to Smile", with varying bulleted reasons such as scoring a touchdown, breakfast in bed, and being loved.One particular caught my eye, it was just one word. Encouragement.

The second, I saw that reason I thought of event last night and the vocal expression of support that came from Big Black Mama. Encouragement is so often helpful and overlooked. Everybody is always looking for some reassurance; I know I am. And what that lady did last night was really heroic, and I won't forget about it for a very long time. I won't forget because it's a lesson I learned, I can imagine the dificulty and stress the individual who was performing coul have felt. She could've just stopped in the middle of her song and walked off the stage, she could've balled her eyes out afterwards thinking she just humiliated herself in front of two hundred people, maybe she might have even stopped singing, something she loved enough to perform in front of people, because she felt like she was a failure. Who knows? I'd like to think that because of that lady's voice, and the encouragement it carried, the girl who was up there singing felt accomplished and proud afterwards. Thank you Big Black Mama.