No. 3 is snakes. Creepy, creepy snakes. No. 2 is death. Oh, death isn't so scary. It's kind of peaceful. And the No. 1 thing that scares people the most is speaking in front of a crowd.
Not to my Riley. He doesn't blink an eye when it's time to speak in front of folks. Yesterday, he took on all the 4th and 5th graders and had no problem with it. He even got a standing ovation at the Jump Rope for Heart assembly.
But all this does is bring back bad memories. It was time for my seventh-grade speech in front of the class. STAGE FRIGHT!
My voice was a little shaky but not too bad. And then my leg started to move. And it picked up speed.
A kid listening (well, sort of), exclaimed out loud, "Look at his leg, look at his leg!"
By this time my leg was dancing. I reached down to try and tie it down but by this time, the class was not listening at all but watching the freak show.
My friend Mark told me the tale that he witnessed another kid's speech. This person's hands were shaking so badly that the speech got loose and flew under a piano. Mark recalled what a sad situation it was to see this person flat on her stomach reaching under the piano for the fallen speech.
Hell, it's not that easy. But for Riley it is.
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