So Many Right Things

Welcome Back Everyone! 

Welcome to another episode of A Brand New Take. This week we dive into the happenstance of so many "right things" taking place. Most times unbeknownst to us, we are exactly where we need to be doing what we need to do. We just don't see or have any idea of the product in the moment. I share a special moment that took place during one of the shows - and how that impact is a result of numerous moments, choices, and decisions that led me there. Family's lives touched, children's birthdays made, and myself... seeing the fruits of my labor. YEARS of passion, process, and prepping all leading to this moment. This, is a Brand New Take! 

Transcript

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Do to do to do to dood Morning, good evening, good afternoon, good, whatever time it is you happen to be listening to this here podcast called A Brand New Take, where we create a space to connect through stories, lessons, and most importantly, perspective. We embrace the beauty of seeing things in a different way in the realms of creativity, leadership, community, and expression. I'm gonna share some moments that have shaped who I am and how I am in hopes that you agree or wait for it, my friends, disagree, because that is the power of perspective, the luxury of life, and the treasure of time. This is a brand new take. And yes, we are back. I know y'all are wondering what is going on with this timeline. What is the structure here? Where are we? That is not the most important thing. The most important thing to remember is that we are here now, and that's what we're gonna take away. Let's go ahead and dive in to what we talked about on the last episode, Embracing the Temporary. I had the wonderful Shea Jackson on just to talk about this crazy tour life where you get so caught up and you get so involved and invested in what's going on, knowing that it's going to come to an end. Now, you could say that about all things, absolutely, but I think what makes Tour stand out is the length of these contracts is from three to nine months sometimes. And I mean, obviously, any contract can be any length of time, but you're committing to a certain amount of time to be surrounded by the same people day in and day out, to be surrounded by so many different energies and personalities, and some you're a-okay with just seeing at work and that's it, and others you probably want to spend a little bit more time with and get invested in and contribute to whatever that relationship or connection could be, only to potentially never see them again, right? So, where is that balance of how much do I invest, how much do I give to this moment that I know is going to be over? And while there are some simple solutions to it, I still enjoyed diving deep and having a little bit more of a conversation about some different tactics or strategies to give everything you want to give to that moment, but also remember that it still matters even though it's just a moment, you know, or you kind of have more control than you think over what you allow to matter. I thought it was a great time. I enjoyed the conversation, and now, today, we're gonna kind of shift gears and I'm gonna tell a little bit more of a story than of course, you know, any kind of perspective, if you will, because a moment happened about three weeks ago now that was probably one of the best moments of my career in both avenues. As you know, if you've been listening for a while, there is kind of uh two lanes of which that I I love to pursue and love to continue to develop, and that is American Sign Language Interpreting and working with the deaf community, as well as entertainment, stunts, dancing, now skating, performing. And when those worlds have a chance to collide, obviously it is incredible. Now, these are moments that you don't always plan for, you can't always plan for, you can prep for, but you can't really plan for because they can happen in any way at any time, and you never know exactly what that moment will look like. And that moment happened, like I said, a couple weeks ago. So let's paint the scene, right? Sicily, 1932. So we're in this show. Let's go ahead and dive in. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We're in this show, and at the beginning of the show, me and my co-host go out, and we kinda it's called pre-show. We're kind of setting the tone for what's about to happen, getting the audience kind of pumped up for you know the magic to begin. And as we're going through this pre-show, I almost immediately noticed a music stand and a light. Now, my fellow interpreters, you're already aware of where this is going. Potentially anyone that has just seen interpreters at concerts or any other productions maybe know where this is going. But I see that music stand in a light, and it clicks, my brain turns on, I hyperfocus on that area over there, and I said, Oh my goodness, there are some deaf people in this audience. Now, that completely shifted my goal for this show. Right? I wanted somehow, some way to sign to them. Now, I have a script, and for the most part, I'm going to stay on that script. There are a couple moments where I might be able to step away or say something a little bit different, but for the most part, I'm going to stick to that script. So I notice the interpreters over there, and of course, everything in my brain is like, how is this going to work? Who are the people? What's happening? Let's fast forward a little bit to my first kind of quote unquote break in the show. And we're all frozen. I'm not going to give too much weight because also you all have to come and see the show. So sorry that these are going to be a little bit vague details, but I'm not doing any spoilers for my show. Haha. So during the first moment that I have some availability to interact with the audience, I go over to the interpreters and you know I'm kind of looking to the audience and and signing, okay, where, where, where, where, where? Who are we signing to kind of thing? Trying to just figure out where they're at. And I find them and I said, Hey, I hope you're enjoying the show. Hope you're having a good time. We set the tone. Okay, cool. Now, mind you, my brain is still racing. I'm really excited that this is even a possibility at this moment. So trying to figure out what else I can do to connect with them during this show. So that was the first one. Hope you're enjoying the show. Hope you're having a great time. After that, my next audience interaction moment, I have a little bit longer to interact with them. And so I let them know hey, there's going to be a part in the show later where kids can come up and sit a little bit closer to the ice and just have that experience, sitting with the host, watching what's going on. And I asked the mom and I said, Hey, how many kids do you have? Mom had about three kids that were able to come to the pot. I said, Okay, this is gonna happen later on in the show, but I'll come back and we'll be able to bring them down if you want to. I was like, Yeah, okay, great, cool, that'll be amazing. Fantastic. Fast forward to that part of the show. I come back out and I said, Okay, if you want to have them come down the steps, I'll meet them, you know, at the bottom of the steps. And the mom said, It's also her birthday. Get out. Are you kidding me right now? Are you kidding me right now? Okay. So the three kids come down and it's one of their birthdays. Now, backstage, there's a couple other castmates that know that I sign and that I'm an interpreter and whatnot, and so they're like, Oh my goodness, like, are you able to see them? Are you able to do blah blah blah? So I'm telling them, you know, what my plan is, trying to get them down to the pod so they can watch part of the show with the host and just kind of be involved in the show at a different level. And we're all kind of freaking out about it, you know, in in an appropriate way. But fast forward and we get them down, and it's again one of their birthdays. And typically when the kids come down to the pod, my co-host Isabella, amazing, amazing host. Oh my goodness, I could have a whole other podcast about how great it is to work with her and how much she has helped me with this role. But typically on the pod, Isabella's talking to the kids, maybe saying what's going on, or oh, it's almost time to wave, XYZ. So for this moment, because these kids are deaf, I'm doing that. I'm interacting with this kid, these kids on the pod, and you know, say, oh, I heard it's also one of your birthdays, and this and that, and oh, okay, get ready because XYZ is about to happen. So they're not only getting the experience of the show, but being involved in the show, coming down to the pod and being able to interact with these hosts of the show is something that I'm unsure they had even planned for or prepped for, but also can imagine that it's making this so much more of a moment that they will keep with them. So let's fast forward one more time. They leave the pod and they go back to their seats, having a great time. I have a dance that I do with two other characters at the show, at the end of the show. And when I was backstage before that dance, before that part, it's in the finale. I went up to my friends, I said, Hey, y'all, can we cut our dance short and can we sign happy birthday to this kid? They're like, Yes, duh, say less, that's going to happen. Okay, great. So then we go out for a finale, we're doing this choreographed dance on the pod, we cut it short, we look directly at that family, and all three of us sign happy birthday. And there's there's something about that moment. I loved every moment that happened so far during the show, but to have not only the host, but you know, these iconic characters make this a moment specifically for you and your language, inviting you to this space, seeing you, recognizing you, and celebrating you. That moment that one hit a little bit different. So, of course, for me, there's always multiple takeaways from experiences like this, and that's also why I wanted to share this story because so many right things had to happen. And within those right things that had to happen, this moment was never predicted. This moment was never something that again that I have I'd planned for in a way, indirectly, obviously, I prepped for it by pursuing ASL, by pursuing performing and entertaining and everything that got me here, but so many right things had to happen for that moment to take place, and it also made me think to not always second guess, you know, where you're at or what's going on, or what your journey is. I think that was the main takeaway because sometimes it's easy for us to stop and think, like, is this even worth it? Is what I'm doing going to pay off in some way, shape, or form? Is how much I'm investing in XYZ actually going to have you know the return that I want it to? And not saying that everything has to be transactional, that I do this for that, right? But when we're putting so much into a job, a craft, a passion, that thought comes up of what else is this going to lead to? What else could happen? And you never know, never know. And this was just that moment that proved you never know how it's going to come back tenfold. This was not the plan when I was in high school and took my first ASL class. This was not the plan when I moved to LA and started pursuing dancing and performing as a as a career. But doing both of those, continuing to study ASL, continuing to study it in college and making it my career, a profession for me, something that I want to invest in, that I want to give the 10,000 hours to, that made me ready for this moment right here. Because when I moved to LA, when I started doing this whole entertainment side of things, I could have just let that stop. I could have let that kind of subside for a little bit and say, oh, I'm just gonna focus on dance. I'm just gonna focus on performing, and maybe I'll come back to sign language, maybe I'll come back to interpreting, but for right now, this is the only moment I want to have. But because I decided to stay with interpreting, to stay with involving myself within the deaf community, keep my signing skill up, I was able to make that moment with others, not just me solely, but I was able to help make that moment what it was for that family. Speaking of the many right things that had to happen, that family chose that show to come to. There's many options of shows on the weekends. Many options, and they chose that one. And I can almost promise you, they weren't ready for the host to start conversing with them during the show and making that moment happen. And for a birthday, so many right things. So many small things had to come together to make that moment exactly what it was. Zooming back out, all the setbacks had to happen because there were there were moments where I wanted to be in other places. Now, na outside of this show, before I even got to this show, there were moments that I wanted to be in other places, maybe doing other things, or thought maybe I should have done XYZ, and that one moment made me realize everything that has happened before this should have happened. Because that's what got me here. That's what led me to this moment to connect with this family. To make this way more than, oh cool, I get to go see Disney on ice and they have interpreters. You got to be a part of the show. You got to have a moment curated specifically for you. And that's special to me. That's something that I hope they're gonna take away and keep with them forever, and that that's something that I know I'm going to keep with me forever. And any time moving forward that I'm wanting to pursue something else or thinking about what the purpose may be, I also have to remember that I I could have zero idea of how this will pay off in the long run. But I know I enjoy it, I know it does something for me right now. I know it allows me to give to others or to connect with others. So I'm going to keep working for it. I'm going to keep this dream alive because somehow, some way, it's going to pay off. And I'm grateful, incredibly grateful, for the moment that it created at that show. So that, my friends, that's all we got for today. I wanted to share just because it was a special moment for me. I'm sure it was a special moment for them. And just to shed light on the idea that you never really know how your journey will pay off. Again, a moment that I, in a way, prepped for, but could have never planned for. It was much more, much, much more, than just Disney Magic. But I'd venture to say that had something to do with it. All that being said, maybe possibly there is something to take away from this. And if not, that's okay. Because it's not for everybody. But in the meantime, in between time, be seen, be heard, and be inspired. And thank you for listening to a brand new take.