give it a shot

my friend pattie over at foodshedplanet.com asked an interesting question on her blog last week. what are 10 things kids need to know to become independent and confident adults?

my answer has come courtesy of ronnie, my best friend as a young teen. ronnie and i tried out for the football team in the 7th grade. we were both pretty small for our age, in fact my girlfriend wendy was 1" taller than me. ronnie and i were really excited to check out the 'cut list' posted in the gym the next day to see if we got cut, or were still on the team. ronnie got cut, but i didn't. it never occured to me to return to practice that day.. i just quit because ronnie didn't make it.
about 35 years later i thought about the day i quit. i wondered how my teen years might have been different if i had made the team. would i have different friends? different girlfriends? maybe i could have been a really good ball player and gotten written up in the wiley jr. high wigwam, our school newspaper, with a picture of me scoring the game winning touchdown. what if...

my mind was taken back to wiley jr high because i wanted to be an actor for years but had always found an excuse why i couldn't pursue it. when i declared my major at ohio state as theatre, my dad said i'd never make a living and that i should be a cpa. in my heart, i was afraid of acting anyway so i always said it was his fault for not supporting me. not true, i had zero confidence. then i auditioned for a role in cleveland, ohio and actually got a part. that scared me so much i told the director i had to move to atlanta the next week. yes, i was moving but it could have waited until after the shows run. then i had a child and couldn't take time away from my little girl. that might have been my only real excuse. then she grew up and i ran out of excuses at age 48.

i didn't want to look back like i had with ronnie and 7th grade football and wonder, what if...so i made a plan. i would take one year of acting classes and then start auditioning. i thought, if i got a part, great and if i didn't, at least i tried. as it turns out i got the part of clarence the angel in 'it's a wonderful life' as my first play which lead me to another and another and another, and i looove it! sometimes even after a good rehearsal, i'm so pumped that i can't sleep that night.
i've made many mistakes along the way but i've learned from all of them. now i sit here waiting for a call from my agent regarding a call back for a national tv commercial.

so my advise for kids to become confident adults is to never wonder what would have happened if...if you have a passion for something, go for it, get out there and make mistakes because you won't learn unless you do.

as my main man, todd rundgren once said in a song..."if i didn't try, how would i know?
check out the lyrics to todd's 'if i didn't try". great song.

so what's this post doing on my gardening blog? i'm not sure but, thanks ronnie.