Do Something Once in a While that Scares You.

The annual Pride Bag Lady Holiday Show has come and gone and I'm happy to report that Romeo and I survived... With our dignity intact!

I gotta tell ya though, I was scared shitless and chain smoking right up until the final moment before I walked out on stage.

The process started at 6:30 that night when i met my friend Adessah Reed. Adessah is a local drag queen in town who had graciously agreed to paint my face so that I wouldn't look like a man in a dress when i took the stage. This make-up process was pure agony! I've had dentist appointments with less discomfort than this required. At one point I had tears coming out of my eyes as Adessah ran the point of an eye pencil along the edge of my eyeball in order to fill in the eyeliner. As this was occurring, some random stranger was banging my wig from just ordinary flat hair to a quaff worthy of the red carpet.

45 minutes later and the preparations were complete, the face was painted, the hair was banged and the dress was slipped on.

I gasped and clutched my pearls when i saw my completed self in the mirror! Kitty Dusharme was born and she was stunning! I stood there for a good minute in disbelief of the image staring back at me (with her pearls clinched as well)

But there was no time to stare at myself in the mirror any longer! I was number 8 in the rotation and we were already at number 3 (ok... maybe just one more minute in the mirror...there.)

Suddenly we're down to performer number 5, then 6, then 7, then, Up next... Kitty Dusharme!!!!

Would I freeze? Would I fall?

I couldn't think any longer about "would I", the music played and I started walking towards center stage. The spotlight hit, I lifted my chin and I jumped into it heels first! It wasn't perfect and at times it wasn't pretty but whatever it was, it wasn't God Awful.

It was without a doubt one of the most terrifying things I have attempted in quite a while. That fear combined with a spot light, a live audience and whatever other forces were in the building that night led to an absolute feeling of being alive and in the moment.

Then, Just like that, the song was over. My debut was done and the fear was gone.

It wasn't Mt Everest or even the mini-marathon but it was a hurdle and it was something that I was afraid to try. But now that fear has been squashed and the hurdle has been cleared... and I did it all in a skirt and 3 1/2 inch heels no less!

So the moral of the story is this; if there is something out there that you have always wanted to try don't let fear and what other people might think hold you back. Run that race, apply for that new job and ask that boy out on a date. you might wobble on your heels and you might even fall down but with enough guts and friends to put you wig back on straight for you, you can stick out your chest, hold up your chin and declare to the world, I did it!