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Everything I need to know I learned in High School. Ok, not really. But kind of.

Firstly, I don’t mean to offend but I have to come out with this right now and then I will move on.  I hated High School Musical.  I think the story is severely lacking, the plot is ridiculous, the songs are mediocre, and the characters are difficult to believe or even like.  Perhaps I’m a theatre snob, which is entirely possible and something I will easily admit, but I can’t really handle fluffy live theatre.  Fluffy movies?  Sure.  Fluffy books?  Fine.  Fluffy plays?  Um, they are frustrating to me.  I am only too aware of how much time, effort and energy goes into a live-theatre production (and how little, if any, the cast and crew get paid) and unless it means something, conveys something important to the audience, gives a new perspective, or makes you think, I really don’t see the point.  High School Musical is a pop-culture version of Romeo and Juliet or West Side Story without the tragedy that makes those two stories timeless, worthwhile and thought provoking.  I must clarify that I thought some of the cast members of this version did a great job.  JL, an 18-year old ball of energy who I have worked with for the past two years in a half-dozen productions, was amazing and made me smile every time he was on stage. 

/End High School Musical Rant.

Please don’t boycott me, or throw things at me.  I still have not seen the movie (which I hear is a bit different than the stage-version) and I will not mock you for your crush on Zac Efron or your iPod HSM play list, so please don’t leave me hate comments or tell me my shoes are ugly.  I don’t like the formulaic Disney money-maker called High School Musical 1, 2 and 3.  We can still be friends, right?

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When I was an awkward, shy seventh grader, I met a woman who changed my opinions about myself and changed my outlook on life; now, a decade later, she continues to indirectly influence my decisions.  Jan was my theatre teacher, my mentor, my friend.  I worked with Jan in countless shows over the years.  After I left junior high I continued to stage manage for Jan’s community productions–three or four a year–and continued to learn from a woman who, in my opinion, knew a little about everything and knew everything about what was important.  

• Hard work is the only way to get the results you want.
• Consider multiple perspectives before moving forward with an objective.
• React with your head, but feel with your heart.
• Power tools are a woman’s best friend.
• Keep batteries, safety pins, bandaids and a Sharpie in your back pocket.
• Expect the unexpected, have a contingency plan for surprises, even if that plan is “stall for time.”
• People are worth the time, energy, effort and the drama that inevitably will surround them.
• Learn to love Shakespeare.
• Always believe in something bigger than yourself.

In the last couple of days, while I was at Tuacahn (TWO-uh-kahn, for all ya’ll non-Utahans), I ran into Jan.  I haven’t seen her for quite a while and admittedly, I feel a little silly how happy I was to catch up with my old friend.  We swapped information about our families, about experiences and people.  Even thinking about it right now I…I find myself strangely at a loss for words.  It’s more than fond memories or happiness; it’s more like joy.  I am not qualified to define “joy”, and I doubt that I could, even if I wanted to; however, I think that these overwhelming feelings and memories fall into the joyful category.  There are some people in all of our lives who somehow show us new possibilities, new ideas, inspire us, change us, improve us and stay with us.  Jan has been that person for me.  I consider myself lucky to have met her when I was so young, so open to a fresh perspective and so desperate to discover who I was and who I wanted to become.  In a lot of ways, I think she taught me more about being an adult than any other singular person.  I don’t know if she has any idea of her influence; part of that is because, as you can see, I still have a difficult time articulating…or even finishing a complete thought with definable emotions. 

In the three (or four) hours that is has taken me to write the last three paragraphs I have sketched out a letter to Jan, one that I feel somewhat describes the positive influence she is in my life.  I have googled her address and scrounged up a stamp.  And now, I’m all written out.  And I have a blog.  This is kind of awkward…

Who has changed your life?  Are they aware of their influence?  And possibly more importantly, whose life will you influence?  Who will look up to you?

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