The Giver

I was stalking a blog of a Broadway musical actress when I came across a video of a young woman singing. Her voice sounded so familiar to me and yet it eluded me until I had watched the video several times. Here, watch for yourself: WARNING: If you do NOT like "musical theatre" type singing, skip the video.



Her name is Natalie Weiss and she is a stage actress. She was on American Idol, but not for long. She's a YouTube sensation. Nope, that's not where I know her from. Think T. Think. Think. Think.... you know those times when you SWEAR you recognize someone and for the life of you it won't come back to your brain? (My dad thinks he knows EVERYONE... even singers from commercials!) This was one of those times. Did I go to school with her? Think.

AHA!!

I remember now. We were both up in heaven and standing around with our assignments for heading to Earth. Being the people-watcher that I am, I watched her working the room. Approaching others with a pleading look only to be rejected with a shake of the head. Yet she was persistent and that intrigued me. Things were pretty good up here, what in the world could she want? And then she slowly made her way towards me. After a quick introduction a million words came tumbling out like the ice from the bottom of your glass cascading towards your teeth & lips. Slow down, slow down. Then more slowly than before she explained that after reviewing her Earth sheet she noticed that despite the fact that she was tall, thin, beautiful and incredibly musical she longed to have a voice that would match the fire in her belly. Did I have "Gift of Voice" listed on my sheet? Would I be willing to trade? I didn't need to glance down at my sheet. I had it memorized. I knew it was there. I wanted to tell her to "Go Fish," but that pleading. Maybe she would exchange the other items for the voice? No. It would be harder to do something with the voice without the others. The others were watching me now, for I had given her more time than they -- was I actually entertaining the possibility of giving away my talent?

I stared long and hard at my list. Plenty of physical ailments. Short. Headstrong. Drama-filled family. Infertile. There were also the pluses: fabulous husband, perfect-for-me daughter, mission, Gospel, love of learning, steel trap memory. Could I afford to lose one of my pluses? It meant so much to her. I could tell she would share it --- she would make better use of it than I.

So I gave it to her. It feels good to be such a Giver.