Where It
I grew up in a small town with little to no money. But every Monday night, my grandmother and I would watch Dancing with the Stars, and she let me dream inside a dream. She always told me I would perform on stage for sold-out crowds around the world.
The first stage I ever sold out was the top deck of her house. I was a kid. I would put on shows up there and perform them just for her. I brought my friends over, taught them the choreography, directed little numbers, and we performed for our audience of one.
From that deck, off in the distance, you could see a theater that seated more than a thousand people.
At twenty, the first show I ever produced was at that same theater. The one I used to point at from her deck.
And I sold it out. She had a front-row seat.
At the end of the night, after every sponsor and donor had been thanked, I called her up on stage. For believing in me, the biggest sponsorship of all. And in front of a thousand people from our hometown, we danced together.