She started out at that dueling piano bar where there was never a request she couldn't fulfill.
The piano playing was a night gig so during the day she looped in with this Polish trio and covered the Wicker Park area cleaning houses.
On Saturdays she got a job at the local car wash. Turns out the manager had actually seen her her at the piano club and she was hired on the spot.
Later she joined the MLS and took the Seattle Sound all the way to the final, only to see her team lose 1-nill on a questionable call that led to a penalty kick.
Her piano friends all had grandiose ideas of becoming bigtime musicians so she decided to become multi-faceted and started drumming for a band called Let Go of My Blanket.
Then the summer hit and it was all about the lifeguard jobs at the local pool.
And by night she was a starving artist who dabbled in painting and grafitti.
Her true love called in the Summer of '69 (hello, Bryan Adams) and she spent 3 months on a farm in Kentucky as a ranch hand with her Nana.
She moved back to Chicago and got a job working in the kitchen at a pizza place where Finley and Dad ate 6 times a week on her kitchen discount.
There she met a lady who owned a cake decorating company and asked her to come on board part time as a baker, which for a few months she felt like was her true calling in life.
Until she saw the broadway play CATS in London and tried out for a part as Mr. Mistopholes. She didn't get it, but she did get a part as a jungle cat dancer and was on stage for 6 seconds every night, which was a highlight of her life.
Being around musical folks every night brought her to her next adventure, which was lead singer of a wedding band that specialized in 70s disco music.
One of the weddings was a shotgun wedding and the bride, who was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, was looking for a nanny. She loved the way Mae sang that soulful 70s music so she asked her right there on the spot and Mae jumped at the chance and spent her days watching over a 4-month old while she dreamed of her next big adventure.
Mae - always looking for the angle, that kid.
