LaughFest Success!

I had a great time last Sunday night doing stand-up for LaughFest! Of course for me it wasn't stand-up - as I delivered my material from my wheelchair - at the last minute I found I couldn't climb the step to the stage. As with all things MS, it was on to Plan B!


I was touched and humbled by the number of people who came out to support me that night, and I offer a huge thank you to my son Scott, who managed the logistics of getting me to the third floor of the building downtown and back!

Alas, I forgot to ask anybody to video my performance, and I apologize to everyone who couldn't see it live. Shy of that, then, here is the material I wrote for the event. I didn't do everything verbatim, but I managed to deliver the gist, and I got lots of laughs!


Hey, at least I didn’t pull a Jennifer Lawrence getting up here! I am blessed to be an Ovarian Cancer survivor June 2^nd will mark 17 years cancer free and what better way to thumb my nose at it than to laugh! Now I also live with MS, an autoimmune disease, so at one point in my life my immune system was too busy attacking my brain to fight off cancer – in short my immune system sucks.

I’m a southern-born girl whose plan was to marry well and throw parties. Seriously. I had my china pattern selected by the time I was 15. Girls from my town don’t get married without a china pattern no matter how big that baby bump is. I had it all figured out.  These hands were going to arrange cut flowers (that someone had brought in from the gardens) and write notes in the morning room. Yeah. Right.

Maybe part of my problem was that I am a contemporary of Princess Diana – man was I jealous of her – she was always out-doing me! The clothes, the pomp, the castle she got to decorate, the fact that she had 10 inches on me…and she apparently didn’t have to worry about bills - oh man I wanted all that! Our lives were on an eerie parallel – she was just weeks older than me, we married within twelve months of each other, we were pregnant at the same time, and we both had two boys. Her marriage started smelling before mine. Then the year I was diagnosed with cancer, what did she do? She died – even then she topped me! I dunno, maybe I’m competitive.

You know, I’m not in favor of the Princess thing that that big theme park pushes. They have that full line of princess of toys and bedding, and when you go to one of those parks, you can pay big money at a special store where you can make your little darling into a princess for day, even if she’s 23 years old.  But really, I don’t think America needs more women thinking they are princesses.  Too, when that little girl gets into her mid-20’s and comes face to face with the reality that she’s not a princess – it just really hurts.

OK, so I may not be a British Princess, but I am a survivor who gets to laugh. TY for laughing with me tonight!

I am blessed!