YAY, I Survived!

A Charlie horse in my right calf woke me up. I was surprised those two dogs attached to my legs that barked endlessly or the splitting headache didn’t wake me. It’s amazing the reaction one can have because of a four inch platform shoe. It was worth all the pain. I survived meeting Gloria Gaynor.

No, I didn’t faint. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut though because Gloria looked right at me and asked where I was from. Such a simple question, right? I pointed to myself and said, “Me?”

“Yes.”

“Where am I from?”

“Yes.”

I looked around. “St. Louis.” Not being sure if that was the right answer, I then asked, “Or do you mean where I grew up?”

I had to keep reminding myself all night long, “Just own it.” Those were my daughter’s words of wisdom.

Alice Muschany, Cathi LaMarche, Linda O’Connell and myself—us four gals all have stories in Gloria’s upcoming book, We Will Survive. We were invited to meet Gloria before and then be her guests at a private event. We had no idea what the event entailed except to dress in the 70s/80s. Since Gloria’s hit song, “I Will Survive” came out in 1978, I went for that dress attire. I’m pretty sure I was the only one.

The event was a 50^th birthday party—the husband surprised his wife with none other than Ms. Gloria Gaynor. Can you imagine?

Observing the crowd, I felt like I was in the 60s/70s, but hey, they were all having fun and so was I. When Gloria sang, “I Am Who I Am,” I told myself, Lynn, you are who you are. You are quiet, conservative. Crowds, celebrities, the whole nine yards cause you to lose all brain function. Hence unable to answer a simple question. But you didn’t trip. You did your best. You made Gloria homemade gooey butter. It’s okay.

I am who I am.

And Gloria is who she is and it was a delight and honor to meet and talk with her. She’s funny, and sweet, and spiritual, and beautiful. Gloria's manager, Stephanie is sweet too and quite the hard worker. There’s so much behind the scenes one is not aware of… and I’m talking for Gloria too. I was exhausted just watching. I'm sure I only saw a glimmer of what takes place.

It hasn’t all really sunk in yet…

But those writer friends of mine are a hoot. I never laughed so hard when we drove home from the event. If you think my eyes squint when I smile, they shut when I laugh. I didn’t want to tell them, “I can’t see!” because I was driving!

I’m sure there’s more to tell and pictures will be on their way too…