My (lovely, normal, not high at all) voice

One time when I was 9 years old (read, when my voice was even higher than it is now), my family was visiting a zoo in Australia and we were standing by the dingo exhibit.  They all were sound asleep, and thus not very entertaining, so I enthusiastically began telling my family a story.  I'm sure it was really interesting and I'm sure they were really listening.  I'm chattering along, and all the sudden, the ENTIRE pack of dingoes becomes wide awake, they all jump up, and start howling and howling.  And we're not talking just a little wake up bark, we're talking intense howling, like they'd heard one of their kind out there in the wild somewhere and were trying to attract it to their pack.  Or that I was a scary intruding dog and they needed to warn the others.  We, fortunately, have the entire thing on video :)

This brings me to my first commonly heard quote about my speaking voice, "Only dogs can hear you in that register."

The dingoes before the Russell arrival (except actually asleep)

So more like this

The dingoes after our arrival :)

 I usually tend to forget how other people hear my voice, so it still often surprises me when people comment on it.  Here are some memorable quotes regarding my speaking voice that I have heard over the years:

- My friend's mom called me "Tiny" for years.  At first I didn't get that she was referring to my voice. 
- "Your little squeaky voice."
- "You sound like you're five."
- Many people have told me that I should be the voice for a cartoon character/animated film.  Most of those people were complete strangers, including one homeless guy.  
- "You have one of those high voices, you know?" (the most recent encounter)
- Lots of, "Aww, your voice is cute."
- "We always thought she would grow out of it." (thanks, Mom)
- "When she gets excited, her voice goes up 2 octaves."
- Lots of mimicking, 99% of the time by men
- My friend told me that she didn't believe this was my real voice for like the first 3 years she knew me... 
- I don't think my sweet grandma has heard me clearly in a looong time.

And my personal favorite from a British exchange girl in high school - "Sounds like you swallowed a dog toy and the squeaker got stuck in your throat." :) 

And my favorite compliment about my voice came from a college acting vocal coach, who I highly regarded.  In response to me saying a lot of people made fun of my voice, he whipped his head around, raised his eyebrow, peered at me over his glasses with the most diva, bring-it-on face, and said - "You tell them Kristen Chenoweth also has a high voice." One of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me.  (And for all of you who don't know, this was when Kristen was starring in Wicked on Broadway...)

Anyway, thanks to his helpful comment and having lived with this disea... I mean voice, for 26 years, I have come to appreciate that it is something unique about me and that it is part of what makes me, me.  I need to figure out a way to put it to good use!  For now, I'll just embrace the fact that I can speak to dingoes and no one else can.  Well, except for maybe my aunt. :) 

A last little thing to consider - this article Amanda brought to my awareness :)  
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/10/12/why-high-voices-attract-men-but-threaten-women/ 

carpe diem, hakuna matata, no day but today... redhead OUT. 
Namaste