Well, I did a “freebie” for a hospital group. It was for whatever children and parents/family wanted to attend.
The show was going well. People were reacting correctly, tricks were being done.
And then they wheeled in a very young child. Trailed by 3 IV units. Wearing very thick glasses, and attended by an interpreter, since the child has a hearing disability.
Well, my act isn’t really suited for very small children, and it’s definitely very “talky” and verbal. But the interpreter was amazing.
And after about 5 mins, the interpreter told me that the child was tired and needed to go back to their room….but…this counted as the child’s physical activity of the day.
And this hurt. Badly. This poor little kid..who’d done nothing wrong is facing a lifetime of what I’m sure most of us would consider torture.
And I cried.
And I turned my back on the audience so that I could wipe the tears away. Tears of sorrow and frustration that the best I could do was a stupid trick.
