She’s frumpy. She’s spinsterish. She’s 47 and never been kissed.
And when she walked on the stage of Britain’s Got Talent show, Simon Cowell smirked. So did the audience. When she said, "I want to sing like [Broadway star] Elaine Paige," you could practically hear everybody thinking, "Fat, frumpy chance, Sister!"
And then she sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables.
Talk about stunning! Smirks turned to smiles. Smiles leaped to their feet and clapped.
If you’ve been underwater for the last few days and don’t mind getting more water in your eyes, listen here.
Susan’s story has a few morals:
- It’s never too late to go after your dream, especially when you have the pipes for it. (Isn’t that right, Paul Potts?)
- Don’t judge the book by its cover girl.
- The right woman can make Simon Cowell smile.
And now we go from a British stage to…
The Ultimate Blind-Date Experience
Picture yourself in a personal development workshop. It’s the morning of the first day, and you don’t know anyone. For the first exercise, you’re blindfolded and led to a chair facing a woman, also blindfolded. You’re supposed to spend 5 minutes getting to know each other. Say anything you like, have fun, but don’t touch and don’t peek.
Your blindfold buddy asks, "Have you read any good books lately?"
As a matter of fact, you have, both fiction and non-fiction. This stranger is so easy to talk to. She’s sparkly and funny, definitely her own person. You’re sure it’s the attractive woman from row 2. Then the bell rings. Five minutes are up. You and Ms. Sparkly exchange pieces of paper with your names on them, but you can’t look yet.
Gentle hands lead you to the next person and the next and the next. Wow, you’re having a good time. When the final bell rings, you eagerly search your pocket for that first piece of paper.
It says "Susan Boyle."
Dear reader, did you see this result coming? I made up the ending, but the story is basically true. The workshop happened, and the people who took part were shocked—shocked!—to learn that the folks they most enjoyed talking with did not fit their pictures.
That is, had they been sent around the room to pick interesting people to connect with, they wouldn’t have chosen the folks who were so much fun to talk to in the dark.
Draw your own conclusions, and leave them in the comment box.
Tags: blind dates, Susan Boyle