Don't Stop Believing

A Story by Kathryn Smith

“Loser!”

“Loser! You’re nothing but a loser!!”

“Loser Kathryn!”

In high school I sat at the lunch table. I watched her form her fingers into an L, place them on her forehead, and sneer loudly across the lunch room as she walked by.

I didn’t get mad at her.

I wasn’t even the slightest bit hurt.

Most young teenage girls might run to the bathroom with mascara streaming down their face, but I just smiled to myself and got slightly excited.

I have the television show Glee to thank.

The show is about to air it’s very final episode. I think it had a good run. I am sad to see it go, but I also believe it’s a good time to end. My favorite program only seemed to go downhill after the 4^th season.

I was just 16 when the pilot made waves. Looking back it is truly incredible what this one television show did for me.

Music has always been a huge part of my life. From an early age I have been richly surrounded with it.

As a little girl I would swing on our swing set belting out Disney songs. The neighbors would grab their lawn chairs and sit and listen to me.

I would harmonize with the radio. I played the piano and eventually would go on taking dance classes.

My voice was apparently good.

So good, my mother took me to my sister’s voice teacher. She made me sing for her. I had no desire to take voice lessons. I just wanted to be a kid. At that time I didn’t quite know what was going on, and why everyone was making such a fuss over my voice.

Later in elementary school I finally put two and two together. I realized my voice was strong when my music teacher always picked me to sing solos. The microphone was always put closest to me for every school concert.

Being in choir was considered cool in Jr high school, but when high school arrived I was in for a surprise! The world was about to become meaner and music was about to be looked at as nothing.

Sports took the cake. Sports were most important. Football, cheerleading, baseball, volleyball, track and field were what all the cool kids did. Funding for sports was better than music. Football games were more important than concerts.

As a choir kid facing a brand new terrifying world, Glee grabbed my attention because it was about kids exactly like me.

Glee was about the kids who loved music, kids who more than anything wanted to be something; to fit in.

Glee taught me to embrace being a misfit.

As I grew up watching the show, I felt like the director was secretly following me around. After an eye injury I had, a character on Glee suffered a very similar eye injury.

The music helped me through my grandmothers death, a car crash, and then my friend’s death. Literally everything: The ups and the downs.

Finn Hudson was and will always be my favorite character. From the beginning I loved him. Cory Monteith played him and did such a great job!

In 2013 Cory passed away and without him the show just wasn’t the same. He was the heart of it all and I miss him so much.

The very last episode airing Friday is going to pay tribute to him in the last scene.

Now that we're at the end, looking back, Glee taught me to never stop believing.

To be myself.

To sing.

To shine brighter than the stage lights.

If it weren’t for Glee, I don’t think I’d be half the girl I am today.

“Just be you, because that’s good enough for me.” - Cory Monteith