It’s time to be honest. I am going to out myself.

I was a Barry Manilow fan as a kid.

You got it.

I loved him.

Would have died for him.

But what was a rural tween to do other than to make up dance steps to his songs and pretend he was singing them to me?

I once made up a dance to “I Made It Through the Rain” for a talent contest. Halfway through the performance, I completely forgot the choreography and had to wing it for another unbearable three minutes. I was on the cusp of puberty, getting familiar with the sting of embarassment whenever I did something I perceived as horribly wrong.

But somehow I made it through the dance.

And now, all these years later, I think back to that fighting moment in which all eyes were on me and I had no idea what I was doing. I had to make it up as I went along.

I think my love for Barry got me through. And perhaps a steely resolve that what my heart says speaks much louder than the voice of reason.

I recently made it through the rain again. My mother calls it ‘bounce’. Resilience is indeed what gets us to the other side of things.

And you know what? When you survive the downpour that life offers you, the sun seems to shine a little brighter and you feel, maybe only for a moment, that perhaps, like Barry’s heartfelt sonorous vibe, that sun is shining for you.