Tone Deaf

I am not a good singer. The only difference between me and those people that everyone laughs at in the first few episodes of American Idol is that I know I’m not a good singer and they don’t. I know my limitations. I can carry a tune and blend in with a choir without causing the audience to run in terror, but a soloist I am not. (I do feel compelled to point out that I was selected as a soloist for one song when I traveled with a choir after my senior year of high school. We toured Panama for three weeks and I sang my solo numerous times. I will admit that I was most likely chosen because I was the best Spanish speaker, not the best soprano.)

Anyway, I have always tried to avoid singing when anyone else will hear me. When my kids were born I never sang to them in the hospital or even at home unless it was just the two of us in a dark room. I don’t sing along to the radio if other adults are in the car, and if I want to tell someone about a cool song I have heard I just quote the lyrics like a poem instead of trying to sing the melody. (I even sit on the front row at church so no one is subjected to my voice in their ear during worship.) So really, my kids are the only ones that know what my real singing voice sounds like. They’ve never seemed to mind and often they sing along with me. We belt out tunes from WIBI or a VeggieTales CD in the car. We sing along with the theme songs to our favorite TV shows and as Ryker practices the piano we join in verbally.

A few days ago as we were traveling to Salem I was singing along to one of my favorite songs on WIBI when Cainan piped up from the backseat. He said, “That sounds just like that fish on Uncle Tom’s wall, the one that sings when you push the button.” Confused, I said, “What does?” He matter-of-factly replied, “Your singing.” Now, as I’ve previously stated, I am well aware that I am not a great singer, but I find being compared to Billy the Big Mouth Bass a tad insulting!