Let Your Light Shine!

I know you want to hear more about the backpack drama...

Here's the thing, my loving husband already bought me a huge backpack - it's HUGE! I thought it would be great, because it's like a big dufflebag on my back, but there are all these compartments and straps and it's confusing. It was also one of the few that we tried that had a waist strap that actually fit around me.

But, here's the kicker - I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The pack is so large, it sticks up behind my head! I look like a sherpa for crying out loud!!

I've had that backpack since December, and I've finally decided, it's not going to work. That's where I am now with the whole backpack search and why it has now become somewhat more of an urgent matter. I am limited in the luggage I can bring so I want to make the most of the one backpack and one suitcase I'm bringing. I just need something bigger than a bookbag, but not so big that I could put a midget in there.

Speaking of midgets, I'm thinking of getting one of those Chinese babies. I have infertility issues, so adoption is an option, although we aren't actively pursuing it yet. Yep, "Hi I'm such-n-such, and I'm infertile..." So, they are always trying to get rid of those Chinese babies and I'm thinking about shoving one in my backpack to bring back with me. Maybe I should keep the larger pack. Add a hamster water bottle, and it's like a backpack-n-play. Except the kid can't play. They can barely squirm...

No less than three people I work with have adopted or will adopt internationally. Maybe karma is trying to tell me something. One adopted a baby boy from Guatemala, another picked up her daughter from China last week, and the other person is in the midst of adopting a little boy from Russia. At least I have lots of people to turn to for advice if/when I get to that point.

Finally, today I was asked if I would participate in some promotional filming they were doing at work. I went up to the studio, stood in front of a green screen, and they instructed me to get excited and energized and say some things to motivate people to come to our national convention next year. A bunch of people were asked to do this - including people who speak different languages (I'm fluent in Dork-ese).

First, I was supposed to improvise inviting someone to a party - like, "You won't want to miss it!" or "Everyone will be there!" I stuttered and laughed and it was really bad. There were 4 people in the room - the guy in charge of the project, two videographers, and one sound guy. I'm not very good at performing like that.

Then they wanted me to say, "Let it shine!" in all different ways. I ended up singing "Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine..." like the song "This little light of mine." That seemed to work.

The last thing they wanted me to do was to say how my light shines, as in "I let my light shine by...." Of course, they threw the big JC in there, like, "How does the light of Jesus shine through you?" Since I'm not all that into JC, in my mind, I just thought about what my light is and how it shines, as in what gives me joy, what do I bring to the world, what energizes me and feeds my soul.

I wanted to say, "My light shines best when I'm naked!" It's been a long-running goal of mine to streak through our national convention.

Anyway, I had a lot of answers for this, but finally I came to this: "I let my light shine by making people laugh!" I tried to be enthusiastic, but they said, "Could you throw a little laugh in there at the end?" I could not imagine doing that and not sounding fake. They suggested that I do something funny. All I could think of was the "Fish Lips" face. Everyone in the room busted up, so I did that. I felt like a complete cheese-nugget - like I was a Clown for JC or something. And they made me do like 5 takes!

By the time it was over, I felt like I'd been interrogated - standing in front of bright lights and saying things to make the people in the dark happy. I was even sweating!

So, my question for you today is: HOW DOES YOUR LIGHT SHINE? Since I'm anti-religious, but I do consider myself spiritual, try to think of it like what kind of light do you bring to the world? We all bring some kind of light - is yours blue? yellow? plaid? I'd love to hear what your light is made of. Come on, if I could do it in front of a film crew, you can do it anonymously here on the web.

I let my light shine by making people laugh - preferably with me and not at me!