Post-speech jitters: It is often thus

People talk about the anxiety they feel before the speech, but rarely do they acknowledge how it feels after a speech. An acquaintance recently gave a much-fretted-about toast at her sister’s wedding. I asked her how it went:

I knew you were going to ask, Dave! It was HARD. Not as good as I wanted. I tried to have a few funny, cute stories about my sister and then get emotional/sentimental the second half. I got some laughs, but then twice my jokes fell flat which I don’t know if they just sucked or if people weren’t hearing me, the mic was touchy. It was a tough crowd, I had my moms lazer beam eyes on me, my sister giving me a look like she was worried, halfway through some people started rudely talking. A few nice people said it was good or they liked what I said but then a couple of people said comments like “good effort, speeches are hard or drink your sorrows away!” My dad said it was too long. Those were all men though so I don’t think they meant it as bad as I took it. Women said nicer things, but they could be lying to make me feel better. My other sister literally yelled at the crowd and told them to pay attention and stop talking during her speech. I’d give a speech on any non-personal subject matter to 200 strangers anyday over that!

Amen, Sister. But that’s no piece of cake either ….