Lesbian Life: Actually a lot of my readers are women who are coming out, coming out of marriage. Any advice that you would give them?

Vickie Shaw:Yes. Be very proud of who you are. Even though that's not always easy. For a lot of people an issue is their religion, their faith, and their church, whatever church that is. That was my hardest thing about coming out was my faith and my belief in my god.
Once I began to come out and I began to look back, I've been gay since I was four.

I fell in love with a girl when I was four. Now, it was a four-year-old love.

Now, I didn't choose to be gay at four. Nobody chooses to be gay at four. That's stupid. So, if in my heart I knew I was gay at four, then obviously, I was created gay at four, before four. And if that's true, then my god did that on purpose. It's a gift. Our sexuality, whether you're gay, straight, transgendered, whatever, is a gift. It's who you are.

And once you accept that I was created perfectly for my journey on this earth to learn the lessons I'm meant to learn, to influence the people I need to influence, to do the things I have to do, to learn what I have to learn, if that's true and I believe it is, then I am perfect. And once you accept yourself as perfectly created, then you can love yourself and have pride in yourself and be thankful that you are who you are.

And, yeah, I know it's not always easy, but it's not easy for anybody on this earth, no matter. We look at people and think their life is easy.

It's not. No one's life is easy.

We deserve happiness. We deserve contentment. We deserve abundance. We deserve all the things that we're supposed to have. And once we allow that to ourselves, then the world will give it to us and the world will make it a little easier.

Is there kind of humor specifically from Texas?

I think Texas is like a lot of the south, we're storytellers. I think that's very typical of a southerner, just because of our culture. We're very much storytellers and elaborators and take the truth and make it a little funnier. I grew up with people telling stories.
When you're around older people, you know, when you ask them, "Who is that?" They don't just say, well, that's just Bob Smith. They go, well, you know, that's just Bob. You know, remember his daddy used to run the country store down the road and they're very nice people, but, you know, his mother, she was sick last year.

And they'll just go on and on and you - - you'll hear a whole story about who Bob Smith is and it's like you just sit back and let them go.

So, you get a lot of material that way?

I sit back and listen to them. Even in my act, it may not be their story, but I will take that cadence that I've learned. I hear myself even onstage. It's part of the storytelling. It's very cultural I think.

Yeah. But, there's something about it that just makes it extra rich and funny and adds to it.

There's a truth. There's an intimacy about it. It's like I'm gonna tell you somethin', you know, and I'm gonna tell you something that's intimate about my family or the people near me and it's as if I'm having a conversation with you. A lot of people tell me that. They feel like I'm talking just to them, like I'm in their living room and I'm just telling a story.
You know, one of my favorite all-time comedians is Kate Clinton, brilliant woman. I love to listen to her, because she's not me. You know, she - - I don't do anything like her and I love how her brain works and I love just sitting there and listening to it and her - - and her cadence and how she says stuff. She goes off, off, off and then she comes back. And you're like, oh, yeah, the thought, exactly. And it's quick and it's fast and it's right there in the moment.

Suzanne [Westenhoefer], she's completely different than I am. And she has a whole different cadence about her. But, that's part of my whole life. I've always studied the comedians that I love.

So, did comedy allow you, then, to leave your husband? I mean, were you able to make a living as a comedian?

Immediately, it wasn't comedy that I was making a living at. I did other jobs. And comedy was just kind of there and just enough to keep me interested. Then, when I got with my partner and moved to Illinois...

Where did you two meet? Did you meet on Olivia Cruise?

We did actually, for real. It was true we met on Olivia Cruise. Eleven years ago, I met her on the very last day and when I saw her, I instantly knew, but she disappeared. I didn't know her name. I didn't know anything about her. All I could remember is that she was a cop from an I state. And I was like, I think that's her. That's my life partner. I don't know her name or where she lives or anything else.
And so, it wasn't until many months later I was doing the National Women's Music Festival and up she walked and I went, "There you are." And that's when we got together. That's when I found out what her name was.