My 1st Time on Stage—When I was six years old I was asked by my Mom who was asked by someone else to be in our Presbyterian Church Easter program. To ease the pain of having to do it she said that my sister Marilyn would also be in the “performance”. She was only four but my Mom felt that we would come through in front of the whole church. We had to memorize the part about how “Christ is risen”. “He is risen indeed.” I had my part down. My sister was supposed to start and then I would go after her. She however got stage fright. What did people expect? She was only four years old. She went for what gave her the most comfort in her life. She started sucking her thumb. The audience started laughing. I waited a minute or so which seemed much longer at the time. I got mad at my sister for refusing to start; I hit her in the arm and walked off the stage. Members of the church were appalled. This was not good Christian behavior. My family must settle disagreements using force. Most of the men in the audience thought it was funny. For me it took forty years before I ever performed on stage again. My sister was braver; she was the lead in “The Diary of Anne Frank” as a junior in high school. We never performed together again after our one show. Our family act bombed the only time we worked together.