Today's guest blogger is Meggan Johnson Hyde. Meggan is a Sacramento improviser and main-stage performer at Blacktop Comedy. You can see Meggan in Your F@#$%! Up Relationship, Squeaky Clean: Family Friendly Comedy, and the upcoming Teen Slasher
I remember the first time I met you, Improv. It truly was love at first sight. While I'm typically somewhat of a wallflower when I'm surrounded by unfamiliar faces, you were so warm and welcoming that I found myself jumping right into the conversation.
"Hi! My name is Meggan, and I like to do this!"
I flirted with you during some warm-up games, casually noticing how everyone around you was having such a great time. But then, you took to the stage and that's when I knew my life would never be the same. You had the cool factor of the jock with the accessibility of the student council president. I sat back and watched you in action for a while, completely in awe of how supportive and encouraging you were. Finally, though my heart was racing, I shot my shaky hand up in the air and asked to join you onstage. Suddenly, there we were. Together. Laughing and having the best time of our lives. It all came together so easily. I was in love, and I wanted to shout it from the mountain tops!
I found myself wanting to be with you all the time. I never missed an opportunity to be with you onstage. I took all the classes and workshops that I could, so as to get to know you better. I read books and listened to podcasts by people who had known you for decades. The more I learned about you, the more I found wonderful and new aspects about you to be discovered. Over the next few months I did everything I could to fill my brain with all the knowledge about you that would fit.
That's when it happened. Everything had seemed so easy in the beginning. Every time we were together we would laugh and play, and it had all seemed so effortless. But suddenly, things were . . . awkward. Now, any time we got together all I could think about was every single thing I was doing wrong. I could barely even talk to you anymore. Standing onstage together, I was completely frozen.
That was a defining moment for us. It would have been so easy for me to walk away, right then and there - to write you off as being too complicated and just call it quits. But I couldn't let you go. I confided in a good friend/mentor, one who had known you for a very long time. He told me that what I was going through was totally normal. In fact, it happens a lot. He called it a valley, and he encouraged me to keep trudging through it. Because eventually, I'd find myself at the top of another mountain with you. My friend also warned me that there would be other valleys. And he was right. Because every good relationship has mountains and valleys. And you, my Beloved Improv, are worth every one.