The gorgeous Ruth Sullivan and I improvising a song onstage at Friday’s fundraising gig.
It’s a tough gig this fundraising thing. I am stressed. But trying to breathe. And taking massive comfort in the support of those around me who are jumping on board the mission to help make this happen. Like in life in general I guess, we have to remember in times of overwhelm that WE ARE NOT ALONE.
Take for instance this weekend just gone. Saturday morning, the morning after the comedy fundraiser here in Brissie – a cause to which many fabulous comedians I love donated their time to rock the house – I woke up feeling sweaty and panicked. Sweat-icked. Why? Because despite a ton of buzz on facebook, lots of RSVPs, an awesome lineup, some newspaper coverage and other indicators that it would be a near-full house, the audience turn-out to the gig was seriously disappointing. The audience itself, however, was quite the opposite, which was lovely. So supportive, I think almost every single one of them bought raffle tickets during the night and by the end of it we’d all bonded, in no small part due to the presence of an incredible trio of elderly people, including the star of the night, little old lady Peg, who stunned us all by going from “the elephant most likely to be offended in the room”to “the life of the smutty party”when she got up onstage, told a stunningly raunchy joke and then proceeded to share her other crackers with individual tables, liberally dropping the c bomb as I dropped my jaw-bomb.
It was indeed, a classic night. I loved it.
Our delicious audience! Nom nom nom.
More improv-ing. Hopefully improving.
But yes, come Saturday morning, when I counted up our total raised, panic stations. I had planned for this evening to make around $2000, yet we were so far below that I wanted to cry. I nearly did. I wondered why the heck I had even embarked on this mad mission. Oh yes, that’s right. Because I’m a camera ham who cannot say no to an exciting idea. Cue my daughter: “Couldn’t we just clean people’s houses and then donate the money that way?” Two thoughts passed through my head. That of attempting to do over eight thousand dollars worth of cleaning in a week – indeed, a total likely to exceed my cumulative cleaning total of a lifetime – and then, that of the beauty of my girl. Her sweetness in even offering to to do that at all – a thought which made the sloth in me all but convulse – and that more importantly, SHE STILL BELIEVES THIS IS DOABLE.
I put an impassioned lay-it-on-the-line gut-spill on facebook and to my honest shock and delight, people started donating, small bits, large bits (mostly large bits!) and by the end of the weekend, we passed $2500. A quarter of the way there. NEARLY where we would have been at had the comedy night gone according to plan. PLUS several tremendously good people have offered to help out in other ways this week to make this thing happen. I’m still more than a little panicked, truth be told. But I’m hanging in there. My belief is finding its feet again. I AM NOT ALONE.
“”Phew!!!!!!!!”doesn’t even really cut it, as my true emotion is some combination of relief, hope, gratitude and happy dance. And this is only at the quarter mark point. There’s still 7 days – and a whole lotta turf – to cover. (Which, incidentally, if you do have a buck or two to spare, you can do that in two or three clicks here. Either way, whether you support in thought or in dollar, you have my huge gratitude!)
I seriously think at the end of this, if and when I see that fundraising total clip over the $10,000 mark, my reaction is gonna be one of either this:
Source: carolyncaseyy.tumblr.com via Alex on Pinterest
but most likely this:
