Queen for a Night.

I could have been someone young, thin, sexy, hot, a talented singer, dancer, entertainer, just like the people sitting next to me on stage at the Tidemark Theater last Friday night. The world was my oyster. My mind was free to be whoever I chose. In public, on stage and raising money for any cause I could think of.

Tina Turner was up there raising money for people with red roofs. Michael Buble was raising money for the Clothes for Dogs society, PINK was raising money for the fitness of cats, and I am pretty sure it was  Beyonce raising money for the Checkers for Children Foundation.  I didn't pick up what Arnold Schwarzeneggar's mother was raising money for but I can well imagine.

I was sitting next to Jennifer Aniston who spoke passionately about her cause: The ducks, the ducks in central park. They are dying you know, it's the mud. They need a new irrigation system to put air inside the mud so the ducks can live.

I have been short and fat all my life. Smart? Yes. Loyal? Yes. A figurehead in my family? Yes, I think so. Charitable? The first to go to bat for a worthy charity? Absolutely. I even have some nice jewelry and happen to look good in hats. But what the hell was I thinking?  In my deep state of hypnosis, with my imagination on crack apparently, I announced to the entire theatre that I was Queen Elizabeth, in a perfectly crisp upper class British accent, and I was raising money for the men in the British Parliament to be able to have ladies undergarments to wear under their suits (because you know, according to Elizabeth Windsor, they are all cross dressers and terribly mortified to go into  Marks and Spencer's and buy their own brassieres.)

WTF?

Why was I not Angelina Jolie (beautifully sculptured cheek bones, not an ounce of fat on her and gets to sleep with Brad Pitt - dammit) No. I am an 82 year old short plump slightly bad tempered monarch who gets to sleep with Prince Philip every second Thursday and one Saturday a month......come on!!!!

Now my excuse is I don't remember any of this. Well, I sort of do now that the fog of hypnosis is wearing off, and of course everywhere I have gone in the three days since has generated giggles, smirks, whispers, and in Walmart, one man in the cucumber section asking me if I was still "her majesty". An older lady held the door open in the bank today and I thought that wasn't right so I said so. She just bowed and said "Your majesty".  Of course going to work this morning was not helpful. I gather the Queen of England was not above copping a feel when the hypnotist, Wayne Lee, suggested to me that when the music started he would appear to be the hottest, sexiest man alive and I was going to dance with him. There was nothing prim and proper about it. We slow danced.  I grabbed his buttocks. Twice.

Then it got out I guess that Wayne Lee told certain people on stage that whenever he turned his back to us we would believe he was butt naked. My boss decided to try this today at work. Several times. Let's just say he's no Wayne Lee!

I learned later that if I was to ever play in a famous orchestra, I would be the drummer. Somewhere in between Keith Moon and someone with Parkinsons whose meds haven't kicked in yet. I also learned that I suck at being a butterfly and am fairly certain I exacerbated my Carpel Tunnel syndrome while fluttering on stage showing my 'best moves'.

The only reason I was there was because I had written an article about the event for my newspaper, where I am a small town reporter (often reminded of this when angry people phone up because they don't like what I wrote.) So I got two free tickets. I invited Jennifer Aniston aka Jacquie from sales to go with me from the office. Neither of us thought for a second we would "go under" and almost didn't go up on stage until the hypnotist said "you will feel like you have had the best sleep ever". Simultaneously we looked at each other and said 'we're in'. How can you tell we have kids at home.

'Jennifer' was worried she was going to take her clothes off. She asked me time and time again leading up to the night, as if I KNEW, "I am not gonna take my clothes off am I?" She didn't, but she did run her fingers suggestively through the hypnotist's hair after the Queen of England was finished fondling his ass.

We remained in character for the entire intermission with the audience being instructed to not let any of us leave the building. Our job was to go out into the lobby and get donations for our cause. We were also asked for autographs. When word got out that the Queen was raising money for transvestites, well, let's just say I had a line up of subjects waiting to toss me a quarter if I would just repeat - again- what I was raising money for. Reportedly my accent stayed intact. I was stoic, slightly pompous, and refused to sign somebody's arm because, according to her majesty, it was 'impertinent."

When we returned to the stage, Wayne Lee collected the money and said he was donating it to Hospice. A great cause. Especially because I have felt like dying ever since the morning after because I cannot go anywhere without someone referencing my royal heritage. This town is not big enough for me and Liz.

I couldn't sleep that night when I got home because, yes, it's true, I already felt I had put a good night's sleep in. I went to the follow-up seminar the next day with the sole intent of writing about it, but instead I was drawn into the philosophy and spirit behind the concept of the power of suggestion, exploring the unlimited potential of the human mind which is obviously capable of leading us anywhere.

I have had a tough couple of years. Stress. Grief. Disappointment. Fear. Did I already list stress?This guy's sole mission is to help people get from where they are to where they want to be. and achieve that with gusto. I am usually too tired for gusto.

But if it takes the Queen of England banging on a drum and saving all the members of parliament from Victoria's Secret, if it takes her majesty to get to the bottom of things and do so with the voice of my beloved (deceased) mum, then so be it. 

I'm in.