Singing Along

A couple Friday nights ago was an area-wide singing night at our Church with families coming from all over, as far away as Victoria, Palacios and Bellville.  It was awesome!   There is something about good old fashioned acapella congregational singing that just works magic on my soul.  =)

I dearly love to sing but I'm an absolutely terrible singer.  Surrounded with enough really good voices and people who love to sing though, and they drown me out enough so you don't even notice.  Gotta love that!  I'm not a "musical" kind of person.  I couldn't carry a tune on my own if you put it in a bag with handles.

People ask me "what do you sing?" meaning soprano, alto, etc.  I say "Along.  I just sing ALONG."  hahaha   Technically according to Mrs. Carey, the brave soul in charge of the one and only choir I ever belonged to in 6th grade, I am a soprano.  No, not like Tony Soprano on HBO. The singing kind of soprano.  Like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music soprano.  Only I sound more like Edith Bunker??  I've never had a beautiful clear high soprano voice, nor do I have a strong enough alto for some of the great alto lead songs we sing.  I just kinda sing along with whatever feels right at the moment. 

I figure God created my voice and I'll do my best with what I've got.  Just not solo or where anyone can really hear me.  I didn't sing lullabyes to my babies.  I won't even sing in the shower.  And I never. ever. ever. ever in my whole life would sing karaoke or sing in front of people in any form.  Just not happening, nor would they want me to.  

My Dad had a beautiful Irish Tenor voice and was a big fan of singing as we all drove along in the car.  Do people even do that anymore??  I mean, besides on the Christmas Vacation movie and we all know how great that carol turned out.  That's one of my great memories as a little kid, singing in the car with my Daddy.  

When my Dad used to lead singing he would say "God made the crow right along with the songbird; whose to say He doesn't like its music just as much or more?" to encourage everyone to sing.   But then again my Daddy was cool like that.  And maybe he really didn't mind having a little crow in the car singalongs sometimes.

Now deep, dark, confession time....  you ready for this...?   I still love to sing in the car when I'm all by myself.  It's my indulgence.  I can really belt it on out if I feel like it.  Broadway ain't got nothin on me, baby!  There's something about singing that just lifts a spirit (even if you're not particularly good at it).  It sheds the layers of wordly worry one note at a time.  I can be having the worst day ever, and a verse or two of a favorite song can turn my day around!

I do get some funny looks on the freeway some days though.  But hey, at least I'm not putting on my makeup or picking my nose.  There are worse things in life than singing while driving.  =)