A.
“Now I open the space up for something I call open mic without a mic and offer you the most precious gift — our attention. You can jump inside the circle and do anything you want for around 5 minutes. You can straight up cry, tell a story, sing a song, or you can also do something such as addressing an audience as if someone from your life, as I am about to demonstrate.” I spoke to my roomful of guests, all sitting on floor cushions in a circle, waiting for instructions of what’s happening next in this gathering.
“Who wants to be my volunteer?” I asked, and several people raised their hands. I picked Lucy, who’s one of my close friends and we moved to the center of the circle.
“I am going to talk to Lucy as if she’s the younger parts of Michelle.” I literally came up with this idea as I was speaking. Several of my close friends came to my Sad Party tonight for their first time and I wanted to make sure we do this last part right and not disappoint them. After the first and second part, I felt like the mood of the crowd still needed some dropping in. Maybe by taking the lead I could shift the emotions in the room.
Looking at Lucy straight in the eye, I started talking on the top of my head.
“I remember when Mom came to the bakery on her last day in town and said to Justin, ‘Michelle looks very outgoing and bubbly on the outside but she’s actually very sensitive on the inside’, I hated it.
