Sunday Shoes

I was in my first play directed by Lee Paulson when I was in 6th (?) grade. Mr. Paulson was my Sunday School teacher from that year through senior high school as well as my high school English teacher and community theatre drama coach. That first show was "Debby and the Dragon" and was performed for church on Sunday morning. (Roxane from Peace Garden Mama will have to ask her husband if he remembers if he was the dragon.)

The rules for these productions were the same be it church skit, depressing high school play about Holocaust Germany, or full-out community theatre musical:


1. For Pete's sake (and I'm cleaning it up here), do not stand in a line on stage.

2. For Pete's sake, do not stand in one big circle on stage.

3. For Pete's sake, don't just stand there on stage.

4. For Pete's sake, do not turn with your back to the audience.

5. For Pete's sake, Mr. Paulson canNOT HEAR YOU!! PROJECT FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

6. All female leads must wear heels; otherwise they look flat . . . or short . . . or something.


I don't remember why -- perhaps Shelby, our little theatre major, will tell me -- but it's just stuck, and I always think of it when I'm on "stage." Must wear heels.

Well, singing with the worship team involves standing on a "stage" of sorts -- although I really don't like to call it that. "Altar area," perhaps, but there's no altar up there. And not that it really matters what I look like, but I feel I should wear heels because -- and I'm just being honest here -- Mr. Paulson yelled a lot and it's really stuck in my head that it makes a difference.

What's my point, you've been asking for the last three paragraphs or so. Well, here . . . have a glimpse at my shoes from yesterday morning:

So trendy, so cute, so fun . . . so very, very uncomfortable for an entire morning of standing and tambourine playing. (Oh, yes, I did!)

Next time, tennis shoes. Take that, Mr. Paulson.