My voice has been a gift to me throughout my adult life. But in my teenage years, it was a curse. Literally. At least it provoked cursing towards me.
I always had a big, heavy voice, even as a small child. Pre-teen I used it to pretend to be an adult on the phone. But as I came of age I realized that it was a great tool to meet girls. Yes! Go figure. A boy trying to impress girls. So I would lay it on thick. They seemed to like it a lot when I called on the phone but you know who didn’t like it? Their dads.
Throughout my teens I was aggressively confronted about my grown man-sounding voice by very protective, and rightfully so, dads who thought I was at least ten years older than I actually was. I heard some words directed at me that I wouldn’t repeat even in the company of a child, much less at a child.
One incident stands out where having a big voice that sounded grown really played against me. I was interested in a girl named Natalia. She was beautiful and I was introduced to her by my brother. I went up to Natalia’s school and she gave me her number and told me when a good time to call was. So I called that day at the time that she told me to call. Maybe she didn’t realize that her crazy father would be home at that time but I was certainly in for a surprise. When he picked up and heard me speak, thinking that I was in my twenties trying to entice his teenage daughter, he exploded into an expletive-laden rant that would make a sailor blush.
But I can laugh about it today. Today those fathers have probably heard my voice on their TVs and radios. And I don’t blame them for watching over their daughters. As a grown person now who has 7 nieces, I would definitely discourage these runny nose boys from calling any of them and to focus on the books. Maybe if he makes a future for himself as a successful voice actor, then I will approve.
I thought of this and poked fun of it in a recent post on my youtube channel. Check it out if you want a good laugh. Thanks to my good friend Jeff Person for playing the father. We had fun with this video.