American Idol Jr

  Since I did a story time on how my acting career was launched, I thought I would do a little part two to talk about how I started singing as well. I have enjoyed music my entire and was in Kindermusik classes from the age of 18 months to 8 years and started taking piano lessons in third grade. But I never really got into singing until the tender age of 11 back in 2003. During that year the television series American Idol was starting to take off in it’s popularity and after the second season of the show aired its finale, a new spin off series was launched called “American Juniors.” Basically American Juniors was a special version of American Idol for kids ages 6-13. But instead of having one winner five children were selected for a pop music group and to alleviate hurt feelings contestants were voted in instead of being voted out. So contestants were first voted into the top 10 and then every week after that the child who pulled the highest vote got into the group. I really enjoyed the regular American Idol show but was even more intrigued by American Juniors. It was one thing to see adults who were quite a bit older than me competing in a singing competition but there was something even more fascinating about seeing kids my age singing on national television. I remember watching American Juniors week after week and being like “I want to do that!” I became so intrigued by the show that I began singing the songs from American Juniors in my room and even playing American Juniors with my dolls and stuffed animals where I pretended to be Ryan Seacrest and that my dolls and stuffed animals were being voted into a pop group. 

Through my enjoyment of American Juniors, I discovered how much I loved singing. After the first and only season of American Juniors ended I started fifth grade and joined the school choir that year. I stuck with choir throughout the remainder of my schooling and enjoyed it. But I definitely struggled with stage fright when it came to singing solo. I remember the first time I auditioned for a solo in fifth grade choir. I walked into the music room and discovered that singing a solo in front of people was not as easy as it looked on TV. I stood up there and sang really quietly because I got so scared of people watching me. To be fair though our choir teacher didn’t give us the music we would be auditioning with ahead of time and taught us the song on the spot. So I was definitely not prepared for this audition at all. But still I struggled with stage fright for many years after this and would only sing in my room with the door shut. I wouldn’t even sing for my family or friends. It wasn’t until 8th grade choir that I decided to take singing a little more seriously and started taking voice lessons. Through the voice lessons I started becoming a little more comfortable with solo singing and finally worked up the courage to try singing a solo in choir again. This time I sang The Star Spangled Banner in front of my 8th grade choir for bonus points and was well prepared this time because I had practiced with my voice teacher the night before. I ended up getting a lot of applause for my first solo performance and I could see people’s jaws on the ground when I returned to my seat. I guess people were surprised that shy little Colleen could actually sing! My confidence grew from there and once I got into high school I continued with choir and voice lessons and began singing in recitals at the music center where I took lessons. I also got to go to my state solo and ensemble contest 3 out of 4 of my high school years for vocal solo and received excellent and superior ratings. In addition I also made the Tri-M music honorary at my school and got to sing in two different recitals for that. The more I sang in recitals and contest the easier it became to get up in front of people and perform. By the end of high school I had completely overcome my stage fright and now I really enjoy singing for an audience. My last live performance with singing was at an open mic night at my church a few years. But I still do livestream shows on Facebook about twice a year and play in piano recitals. 

It’s amazing to think that my love of performing all got started with a show like American Juniors. Sadly American Juniors was cancelled after just one season because the group that was formed through the show didn’t really take off and their only album was released a year after the show ended. By that time people had sort of forgotten about the show and the album didn’t sell. Looking back on it the group was kind of all over the place with kids of different ages whose voices didn’t necessarily blend and the fact that there was only one boy voted into the group of five. There was also a 14 year girl in the group who had a very powerful voice. So a lot of times she got the solos while the other kids served as backup. That probably wasn’t the original intention of the show. Plus pop groups were kind of going out of style at the time as well. So I can see where American Juniors didn’t really take off. But either way it definitely inspired my love of singing and performing and that has gone a long way in 22 years.

The Unexpected Launch of My Acting Career

        When I was in middle school I was very shy and introverted. I wasn’t one to confidently approach someone I didn’t know and start a conversation. I didn’t make friends easily at all and was never confident when it came to taking the lead in group projects, I always happily left that role for someone else. I also didn’t really enjoy being the center of attention and preferred being on the sidelines rather than in the spotlight. I had been doing piano recitals since the age of 10 but was always very nervous about performing in front of people and wouldn’t be able to make it through the song without making countless mistakes. I also had a literal “running” gag of making a run for it off the stage after I finished playing to avoid the unwanted attention. The bottom line is I battled stage fright for a long time and just never felt comfortable in the spotlight.

But I always loved attending plays and musical performances as a member of the audience. I remember going to see “Joseph and the Technicolored Dream Coat” at a local theater when I was 12, seeing a Christmas orchestra concert downtown and watching my fellow middle school classmates put on a production of  “Honk Jr.” I enjoyed seeing these shows so much that I secretly wanted to be on that stage myself more than anything. From the audience perspective it looked so fun and easy to act, sing and dance on a stage and have everyone applaud fore you. But being on that stage myself with everyone staring at me just made me too nervous and scared. I also didn’t have much confidence in myself and always thought other people were better than me and didn’t think I had the talent to be in a show. In addition I struggled with a bad stutter at the time and couldn’t usually get through a sentence without stumbling over consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of my sentences. This also made my dream of becoming an actress seem impossible because it would have been really difficult to recite my lines without sporadic stuttering. Because of these issues I just never thought being on stage was in God’s plan for me at all. That was until one night when my dream came true in a very unexpected place.

It was a Wednesday night in late autumn and I was in my 8th grade confirmation class at my small church in Ohio. We were all sitting at a table and our youth leader, Owen came over with a piece of paper and a pen. He told us that the 5th and 6th grade youth leaders were organizing a Christmas pageant and looking for some extra actors and actresses. “So if you are interested in acting,” Owen explained, “Write your name on this sign up sheet.”  I wanted to do it so much but was still unsure if I would be good at acting and felt nervous about performing in front of people, especially if I was just going to stutter the whole time.. But this voice inside of me kept telling me that I needed to sign up and this was my big chance. So I worked up every ounce of courage I had inside of me and hesitantly wrote my name on that sign up sheet. I then went home that night and did not even tell my parents I signed up for the Christmas pageant because I was too embarrassed.. They had to find out at church the following weekend from the youth leaders themselves. My parents were definitely surprised that I wanted to do it but were supportive. My brother Mark who was in the 5th and 6th grade class was also going to be in the pageant. So it was easy and convenient for them to take me to rehearsals along with him. Mark was going to play the role of Joseph.

I ended up playing the role of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist and cousin of Mary and only had one line in the whole pageant, “Blessed are you among all women and blessed is the savior that you carry.” But I also got to play a few background roles including an angel and an aggravated customer in a store at Christmas; the latter of which was where I was really able to shine. My frustrated expression must have been very realistic because one of the youth leaders would always give me an encouraging thumbs up whenever I would do it in rehearsals. I also got to practice my one speaking role consistently in rehearsals which was very helpful because the repetition made it easy to memorize it and be able to say it without stuttering.

The Sunday morning of the pageant I definitely felt nervous because this was my first experience with acting and I kept worrying that I would forget my one line once I got on stage or stutter when reciting it in front of everyone. But I once again worked up all of my courage and got up there to do everything I had practiced for weeks. My first parts were just the background roles where I didn’t have lines so I just did the best I could to look aggravated as the store customer and peaceful for the angel. Then when the time came for me to play Elizabeth I got up there and kind of froze up a bit. As the girl playing Mary recited her line I started to get nervous and wondered if I would even be able to get my words out with how dry my mouth felt or if I would just stutter through it. That’s when I noticed a familiar face in the audience smiling at me, the main Pastor at our church. When it came time to recite my line I just looked at Pastor Doug and got the words right out clearly with no stuttering at all! Just focusing on one person while I was speaking really got me through it and made me feel less nervous. After the pageant ended a lot of people came up to me and told me what a great job I did. Owen even gave me a high five. This is the thing I love about that small church, people are always cheering each other on,  have each other’s backs and are just super kind and supportive. You always feel encouraged to keep going with whatever you’re doing every time you’re there.

I know I definitely felt encouraged to keep acting in plays. After I did the Christmas pageant at my church I took “Intro to Theater and Acting” as my first elective the following year in high school. Through this class I learned about the history of theater, was taught the basics of the stage and got to act in short scenes and plays. I even got to deliver a monologue for my final exam.  The class was a lot of work and very much out of my comfort zone. But it was well worth it when I auditioned for a play the following summer at a local theater and ended up with a lead role!! I did three shows that summer and never stuttered once! I continued to participate in summer theatre productions for the remainder of my high school career and took an advanced acting class my junior year. Aside from theater I also sang in the school choir and took voice lessons. Through the voice lessons I got to sing in many recitals and participated in a Solo and Ensemble Contest at my school where I received excellent and superior ratings for vocal solo. In addition I also made the Tri-M Music Honorary at my school and got to sing in a new member’s recital. Between being in theater productions and voice lessons I really got used to being on stage and found that the more I did it the easier it became. As a result I overcame my stage fright and now love performing on stage. It’s amazing to think this all got started with a church Christmas pageant. I guess you just never know what will happen when you take a chance. Had I not signed up for my church Christmas pageant when I was in 8th grade I would never be where I am today and would probably still have stage fright. So I guess my point in all of this is never be afraid to take that first step because it could change your life as it did for me.

The Roller Coaster Sled

 With all the wintery weather lately I thought it would be fun to pull a classic winter story from my childhood out of the vault. This story is so classic that it is still brought up at family gatherings to this day, much to my dismay. It’s probably one of the craziest, most embarrassing things I’ve ever done, yet it was all one my creative Colleen ideas. What was idea you may ask? Let’s read on to find out.

The year was 2004 and I was 11 years old. My younger brother Mark and I were enjoying our extended time off from school due to Martin Luther King Jr Day and were having a fun day playing in the snow. After doing the classic winter activities of building a snowman, having a snow ball fight and making snow angels, I was starting to get a little bored and wanted to find something new to do. So I went into the garage to see what I could find. The first thing I found was a few of our sand buckets stored away. I got them out and started building a snow castle with them. Mark joined me and this turned out to be a fun thing to do. Snow was much better building material than sand because it was wet and held together better. We ended up making a really neat looking snow castle. The next thing to catch my eye in the garage was our big purple sled. Sledding! Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? I ran into the backyard to see if I could find a good hill and realized there was a huge hill going from the side of our deck all the way down to the ravine. There was also a wooden fence going down the left side of the hill. But I didn’t think anything of it and thought I found the greatest sledding hill ever! So I ran to go find my brother. “Hey Mark, do you want to go sledding?” “Yeah sure” he replied. So we went into the garage and grabbed our purple sled. I then led Mark to the hill I found. He was a little hesitant at first but I managed to convince him that sledding into the ravine would be fun. Spoiler alert!! It wasn’t! I was the first to try out the new sledding hill. I got on the sled and Mark gave me a push. The sled went super fast, almost like a roller coaster and stopped just short of the ravine. It was a lot faster than I thought it would be and I was a little scared but I still had fun. Mark went next and didn’t quite make it into the ravine either. When it was my turn again I jumped back on the sled and Mark pushed me again. But this time something weird happened, the sled started to go crooked. I tried to steer it but couldn’t in time. Before I knew it I ran into the fence face first before sliding under it and going all the way into the ravine.

“ Colleen are you okay?” Mark yelled down to me. My mouth hurt a lot and I could tell I was bleeding. But there was also another problem, I was completely trapped in the ravine. Whenever I tried to move the sled would also start moving again so there was no way I could get out on my own. So I told Mark to get Dad. I knew we would probably be in trouble for this but I couldn’t stay in the ravine forever. So Mark ran towards the house to get help. Just minutes later he returned with our dad. Dad seemed really worried about me, “Colleen, are you okay?” He asked in a panicked tone. I replied that my mouth hurt and I was stuck. So my dad quickly ran into the ravine and got me out. He had Mark grab the sled and my pink and gray winter hat that had flown off my head when I hit the fence and follow him as he carried me back towards the house. He put me down as soon as we were in the house and I took a quick peek in the mirror before following my dad to the upstairs bathroom to get cleaned up. My lips were completely covered in blood and I had a scrape under my chin. I was worried I would need to get stitches. But my dad cleaned up my face and said I just had some bruises and scrapes, no need for stitches. I was relieved but still in pain. After I was all cleaned up my dad gave me some warm apple juice to drink. As I was having my juice I heard him giving Mark a little talking to. He explained how dangerous it was to sled into the ravine and around a fence and that we needed to find safer places to go sledding. I felt kind of bad because this had all been my idea and Mark was getting more blame for it then I was. But I guess my dad felt bad for me because I was hurt.

After I finished my juice I laid on the couch to rest. Everything that happened suddenly just hit me and I started crying. My mom came over to comfort me and give me some cuddles like any mother would. I felt better after a while. My mom then turned on the TV for me and gave me some yogurt covered raisins to eat, one of my favorite snacks. I tried to eat the raisins but it was very painful to chew, probably because I bruised a jawbone when I hit the fence. It unfortunately continued to hurt to eat anything for the next couple days. Later that day my mom told me there was something for me at the kitchen table. I ran into the kitchen to find my seat at our kitchen and found a note from Mark on my placemat. It read “SORRY” in big letters. Next to the note was a fuse bead star he had made. Earlier that day before we went out in the snow, Mark and I were showing each other our collection of fuse bead designs we had made over the years. My favorite one of Mark’s was a pink, green and yellow star with a blue Christmas tree in the center. And Mark had decided to give that one to me after I got hurt. I ran upstairs to go thank him.

The craziest part of this experience was having to explain my very visible injuries to everyone I saw in the next few days. My Aunt and Uncle came over with their 3 boys the day after my accident and my mom was not shy about what happened. “Look what Colleen did out in the snow.” She announced and had me show off my injuries. I think everyone was shocked when they saw how scraped up my chin was. I also got asked about what happened to my face all day at school when I returned after the long weekend. It got a little tiring to have to explain in repeatedly. I definitely learned a good lesson that day about not attempting dangerous stunts and I can’t say I have stepped foot on a sled since.

The Day I Witnessed a Food Fight🍕🍔🥪

 It’s hard to believe that it has been exactly 15 years since I witnessed the infamous food fight in my high school cafeteria. I will never forget that crazy day! It was the Friday before midterms week and every student in school was scrambling to prepare for their upcoming exams. I was an 11th grade student that year and was in my third period English class when I heard a few of my classmates talking about a potential food fight happening that day during seventh period lunch. Even though that was my lunch period and had been for most of my high school career, I wasn’t too concerned about it and kind of just laughed it off. I didn’t actually think anyone would go through with something like that without worrying they would get in trouble. The rest of the morning went by as normal and I got to seventh period lunch and sat at my usual lunch table. At my table were three other girls  but I typically ate alone at the other end of the table because I was shy and usually kept to myself. There I was, 17 year old Colleen wearing my blue jeans and red hoodie that I wore almost every Friday and eating my usual packed lunch of sharp cheddar cheese, crackers, a bag of baby carrots and grape tomatoes, two cookies and a Hi C juice box. It seemed like any other lunch period at first. I finished my lunch and got out one of my journals to either write a story or jot down whatever was on my mind that day. I also had my white and light pink Walkman with FM Radio at the table with me as I did every Friday. Suddenly right at the end of the lunch period I heard a loud male voice yell out “FIGHT!!!” Food then started flying across the entire center of the cafeteria. I picked up all my belongings as fast as I could and attempted to throw them all in my magenta LL Bean backpack before I could get covered in food but I unfortunately dropped my Walkman in the process and the CD that was in it fell right on the floor. I quickly grabbed my CD and Walkman and crammed them into my backpack  before running to the other side of the cafeteria near the gymnasium with the other girls from my lunch table. Eventually everyone in seventh period lunch was standing on that same side of the cafeteria away from the tables and chairs. Once the cafeteria was cleared out it looked like a food massacre had taken place. There was a mix of food and trash  all over the floor, chairs and on the tabletops. Empty milk cartons, open bags of chips and a variety of food pretty covered the entire cafeteria. It was pretty disgusting. I felt sorry for the janitors who had to clean it up as we were all leaving for our 8th period classes. I also heard that the principal ran in, slipped on a milk carton and broke his wrist. I did not see this happen though. Maybe I was too busy trying to gather my belongings or it could have happened after I had left the cafeteria. But either way it made the food fight even crazier and probably got the students involved in even more trouble. The remainder of the school day went as normal. I had 8th period study hall and a geometry test before finally heading home on the bus with my brother, who was freshman. My mom was so shocked when my brother and I told her about the food fight. My brother was not in seventh period lunch so the story mostly came from me. My mom even had me call my sister in college to tell her the what happened at school, she loved those kinds of stories. Then my best friend even called me later to make sure I was okay because she knew I was in that lunch period. Fortunately I walked out of there unscathed without even a crumb of food on me. My mom was very relieved and said, “I would have been so mad if you had come home covered in food.” I was glad to have come out of it clean but it was kind of fun to have witnessed it and gotten to tell my account of the food fight to everyone I had seen that weekend. I was even asked about it at my church the following evening. Overall being in a high school food fight was one the craziest experiences of my life that I will never forget. Unfortunately my Walkman never worked the same again!

I Used to Picnic Outside an Abandoned Psychiatric Hospital…..

I know that is probably the weirdest blog post title ever but it’s 100% true, I really did have picnics with my mom and brother outside an abandoned psychiatric hospital one summer. Here’s how it happened. In the summer of 2002 my mom had me and my two siblings signed up for swimming lessons at our local recreation center. The rec center had a big indoor swimming pool, a game room with table top games such as air hockey and ping pong, a playroom with toys, a workout room and a gym with basketball hoops. The city hall was also located inside the rec center. Attached to the beautiful community center was a huge reddish brown and beige sandstone brick building that looked to have hundreds of small windows and pretty much stretched around to the other side of the property. But this massive building was not part of the rec center it was attached to, it was a psychiatric hospital that had been abandoned since the early 90s. So why the heck was there some old psychiatric hospital attached to a fully functioning recreation center? Let me explain. The entire recreation center property opened as a Veterans Administration hospital in 1939. During the war it provided medical care to veterans. Later the building was used as a hospital to treat tuberculosis patients and a new wing was built to accommodate the growing number of patients. In the 1960s when antibiotics became available to treat tuberculosis a hospital to treat the disease was no longer needed. So the building was then converted into a psychiatric institution for people with mental, developmental and physical disabilities. The facility remained open until the early 90s when it was closed down and its last patients were moved into group homes. The building was then abandoned and lots of old equipment and drugs were left inside. Finally in 1995 a small portion of the building that was originally used as an activities building for the psychiatric institution was completely remodeled and turned into the new community/recreation center. The rest of the building that was completely attached to the new rec center however remained abandoned. 

During that summer of 2002 my brother and I would have our swim lessons in the morning while our older sister’s lessons were scheduled in the afternoon. While my sister was in her swimming lessons, my mom would take my brother and I on a picnic lunch outside the rec center. We brought a big blanket to sit on and always laid it out on the grassy lawn directly outside the old hospital building. I would eat my cheese and crackers and drink my kool aid jammer bottle all while looking at this creepy, abandoned building. As a kid this didn’t seem all that unusual but looking back on it now it does seem pretty creepy that we used to enjoy a summer picnic outside an abandoned hospital. I remember my mom explaining to me and my brother that it used to be a hospital but was now closed down. The building may have an attached to a newly remodeled rec center but it was just as old and run down as any abandoned building would be. There were broken windows left and right, dirty looking bricks and even an orange fence around the old entrance with a danger sign, probably to keep trespassers out. The three of us actually peered into one of the windows during one of our many picnics and saw an old looking sink along with other old medical equipment left within the walls of the old hospital. It was weird that all that equipment was just left inside the building rather than being moved somewhere else and reused. There were also a few smaller empty buildings around the property with broken windows as well. It was sad that the city spent all that time turning that small portion of the hospital into a recreation center but didn’t do anything with the remainder of the property. However in 2006 the hospital along with the other small buildings was finally demolished and the existing rec center had a new addition built on to make it a little more modern. The property is a lot nicer nowadays but is virtually unrecognizable from what once stood there, abandoned, unkept and incredibly creepy. I will always remember that old building and the picnics we had on its front lawn.

That Time I Almost Got Scammed

  For as long as I can remember having my writing published has always been my biggest dream. I have enjoyed writing short stories since we had a special creative writing time, Writer’s Workshop in first grade in which we would write our own stories based on a topic given by the teacher and a select number of students would have their stories published in little hard bound books and would get to read their stories out loud to their fellow classmates and parents at an Author’s Tea. Writer’s Workshop was always my favorite time of the school day and I was always very excited to find out if my teacher would select my story for publication. My love of writing pretty much grew from there and I went on to write many short stories, personal essays and even poetry. My friends in high school always told me what a great writer I was and that I should be published. While I didn’t think my writing was even near good enough to be published, I decided to go online and find some publishing companies and writing contests to submit to. It was definitely worth a shot!

One night I came across a website where you could submit your poetry for a chance to be published in a big anthology. This website came off as looking very professional to me and they even had a picture of what the book would look like and made being published in it look very impressive. So I decided to give it a shot. I didn’t want to go up to my room to get one of my writing journals because  I couldn’t risk having my parents see what I was doing, they would have just tried to stop me. So I typed in a small part of one of my poems that I had memorized off the top of my head and submitted it along with my name and contact information. 

A week later I got a huge two page letter in the mail from the website I submitted that small part of my poem to. It was very flattering and went on and on about how much they loved my poem and thought I had a true gift of writing and that I was a semi finalist in the contest and my poem would definitely be published in the anthology. At first I was really surprised about this because I had only submitted a small part of my poem to them and it wasn’t even that good. But at the same time I was really excited that they liked what I submitted and it would be published in a big professional poetry anthology, I thought I was going to be some famous poet! That was until I saw the price of the book. In order to see my poem in print, I had to buy my own copy of the book which was about $69. I asked my mom if we could buy it but she was like “Colleen, this is nothing but a scam. We are not buying this book.” I begged my parents for days to buy me the book that my original poem or small part of it was in but they wouldn’t give in. Even though I couldn’t buy a copy the book, I still filled out the form signing over the rights of my poem to the company so I could still be published. This turned out to be a big mistake.

For weeks on end this company bombarded me with emails still trying to get me to buy the book. They also sent me a catalogue in the mail with items I could buy that incorporated my poetry such as my poem printed on some fancy pants plaque, having it professionally framed, printed on a coffee mug and a variety of other ridiculous things that I couldn’t afford. All of the items listed in the catalogue looked professional but were all very expensive for what they were. This is when I finally realized this company was probably a scam and I unsubscribed my email from them and haven’t heard from them since. After all I wasn’t about to pay $200 for my poem to be printed on a plaque, that’s outrageous!

This company definitely turned out to be a scam. Basically what they did was take my poem, publish it some big anthology that they made look professional and then sell it back to me in not only the book but also on a variety of other completely useless products. In other words they were trying to get me to buy my own poetry! If they had really liked my poem and wanted to publish it in a real publication that would be sold online and in bookstores, they should have been paying me for it. While that anthology wasn’t considered fake because it was actually sold on their website and even Amazon, the only people who were going to be buying it were the people who had their poems published in it. After all it was really just a book of amateur poetry that they were trying to sell back to the actual poets themselves. Being published in it was really no honor at all.

Ever since then, I have definitely become a lot more careful about where I submit my writing and try to ensure other people don’t make the same mistake I did and almost get ripped off by one of the many scam websites out there.

Here is a list of red flags to look out for before submitting your writing anywhere online or giving them permission to publish it:

Everyone Wins or Gets Published: I did some research online and it seems like that company I submitted my poem to just sends a letter to anyone who submits to them and publishes all of them in that anthology. A legit contest or company would have higher expectations for submissions and would never accept all of them.

You Have to Pay to See Your Work in Print: A real publishing company should always send you at least one free copy of the book your writing is published in. There is absolutely no reason you should ever be charged any amount of money to see your own work in print. They should be paying you for your writing.

They Ask You to Sign Over Your Rights Without Paying You: This is the biggest red flag. Never sign over the rights to your work to any company unless they pay you for it and send you a copy of your publication for free. Otherwise someone from that company could publish your writing as their own and make money off of it. You also wouldn’t be able to submit it to legit companies.

They Try to Sell You Other Items That Incorporate Your Writing: This is definitely a sign of a scam. Having your poem on a plaque or in a fancy frame may look professional, but in reality it’s useless. Don’t waste your money! 

Send it to Zoom

 The year was 1999. My older sister and I were both big fans of a show on the PBS Kids network called “Zoom.” Basically the program involved kids ages 8-13 playing games, creating art, making recipes, acting out short plays and conducting science experiments. Everything they performed on the show were ideas sent in by viewers. At the end of each half hour show, the group of seven kids would perform a catchy tune/rap that encouraged viewers to send in their ideas. The show’s address and email was even embedded into the song as a way for kids to easily memorize it. As a result, I still have their address memorized completely to this day and will not forget the Boston zip code anytime soon, “ 02134! Send it to Zoom!!”

After a few months of consistently watching Zoom, me and my sister decided we were going to send in our own ideas, hoping they would get on the show! I think my sister sent in some kind of a game but I don’t remember exactly what it was. My idea on the other hand was a craft. I’m not sure if I came up with the idea to send this on my own or if my sister helped me. But my craft idea I sent in was a homemade tooth pillow. When I lost my first tooth my mom helped me make a shiny blue heart shaped pillow with a small red pocket to secure my tooth while I awaited the tooth fairy’s visit. I thought other kids would like to make a pillow for their lost baby tooth as well. So that seemed like the perfect thing to send to Zoom. Since I was only 6 or 7 years old and couldn’t write very well yet, my sister wrote my letter for me. After our letters were complete, we sealed them up and sent them to Zoom! We were sure our ideas would get on the show and we would become famous.

For weeks after our letters were sent, my sister and I anxiously watched Zoom everyday in hopes that our ideas would be included on the show, not realizing the show was pre taped months ago and if we were going to get on, it wouldn’t be until the next season. But long story short, neither of our ideas ever appeared on the show. This was a disappointing outcome for seven year old me. But looking back on it now, I can see why they didn’t make my tooth pillow. It was a pretty complicated, tedious project that involved lots of sewing, which my mom did for me. I can’t imagine most 11 or 12 year olds would know how to sew at all, let alone make something big like a pillow. I don’t even think I could make something like that today at 31 years of age! I definitely could have come up with something better to send. But either way it was still a lot of fun to write and send the letters to Zoom!