So this past weekend, my improv group had planned to do a few shows over 2 days. The first day was down at Mariner's Church in Irvine (I hadn't been there before, and I enjoyed it. Reminded me of Saddleback as far as size, but the architecture was more of what I would call University style.... which is probably a horrible description). That day, we were actually scheduled to do three shows, of about 15-20 minutes each, or about 2-3 games. These shows were for foster kids, and their foster families, or other people close to them. The second day, was at a home in Chino for kids who had to be removed from their homes by the state because of abuse or neglect by their parents/caregivers. Needless to say, we were somewhat apprehensive for both days. For one, doing Improv for kids is tough, because unlike adults, who are pretty afraid of yelling things out, kids love to yell all the time, and it can be pretty easy to lose the audience. But more importantly than that, our job was going to bring laughter to kids that so far in their lives, they've experienced loss, and pain, beyond what most of us have experienced as adults. Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't scared of the thought of not getting laughs (because my jokes create silences a lot) for my own benefit, I was scared that we wouldn't be successful at creating smiles. Now, one of the games, which we call Uncle Jim's Storytime, involves 3 of us going outside, while the fourth staying in, and getting characters, a setting, and other details about the story. Then we come in, and as he tells each part, we assume the characters, and create the story. This will come in handy in a moment....
Well, we did the shows, and we got laughs, we had people thank us, and it was good.
Then today, I get an email from one of the other guys in the group. He was eating lunch at Chik-fil-a, and a little boy runs up to him at histable, and just stared at him for a few seconds. Then, the boy says, “Thanks for the story.” My friend says “excuse me?” the boy says again, “thanks for the story…. I saw you at camp and you told a funny story with a funny guy playing Frosty. That was the best day… thanks…”…. And then he runs off….

So, lets just say that I feel pretty good about the whole thing.
And no, I wasn't Frosty, we had frosty twice, and I was either Soldier Boy, or Barney, depending on the show he saw.