No, no, no. You’re not getting out of this without elaborating what you mean for your adoring masses. Come on. Out with it.

I tried to make this into a whole post (not just an aside), but it kept sounding lame. So my thoughts may not be tied up in a pretty bow.

First, Beverly Sills made A MILLION DOLLARS in 1969 by singing opera. It’s hard to believe anyone did that. That was before the Equal Pay Act. As a child of immigrant parents from Brooklyn, she embodies the American Dream. And also, she didn’t spend it.

She has two children. One is mentally retarded, and the other is deaf. I would imagine they’ll never know what the world thinks of their mother. Maybe that’s what kept her grounded. She resisted (I’m sure) impressive offers to care for them.

Then, she stopped singing when she felt the quality of her voice was declining. She wanted to preserve the memory of her voice. Most divas would crisis, asking, “What am I, without my voice and career?” She moved on gracefully, and onto even bigger things (without singing!).

She became the general director of the New York City Opera. “Sills helped turn what was then a financially struggling opera company into a viable enterprise.” (-Wikipedia) Then she spent 8 years as chairman of Lincoln Center, then a couple years as the chairman of the Metropolitan Opera. -The only chairman who could know what the costumes feel like, how small the dressing rooms are, etc.

All this is impressive (and there is more), but in interviews she is so down to earth. I guess the way she inspired me recently was that she was talking like a chairman, yet I was interested in what she was saying and easily understood her points. I thought, “I can sound like that.” Sometimes when we have to make business calls, I shy away and let my husband do it, but after listening to Beverly Sills, I want to make a few.

Don’t worry, she doesn’t make me feel like I can sing opera. ;)