Glory Hog

Once upon a time in 1987, a very young, naive girl decided to join a very small chorus in her hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Her primary objective was getting voice lessons outside of the tiny church choir she sang with on a regular basis (which really only offered lessons in "how to sound twangy"). Little did she know that her membership in that very small chorus would literally change her life - in very large ways.

Ok, so the "very young, naive girl" was me (emphasis on "was"). When I joined the Sweet Adeline organization, I was a mere 21 year old nymph, had been married two years (yes - I was a child bride) & living out in the boondocks with the rednecks. So it really didn't take MUCH for this whole singing thing to change my life - I mean, the only direction I could GO was up, right?

Fast forward almost 19 years (yeah, do the math - I'm not 21 anymore). My membership in Sweet Adelines has lasted longer than all three of my marriages combined. I've had the privilege of singing with a total of four different choruses in three separate cities & am blessed with more friends than I can possibly count - many of whom I've never met personally. Change my life? Oh yeah. Kinda led to my first divorce (he couldn't handle the fact that I was growing my own brain & learning to use it); was partially responsible for two of my moves; was TOTALLY responsible for me being in the right place at the right time to meet H3 (he's a singer, too). The list goes on & on.

Back before I joined this organization, I never would have thought of myself as someone who enjoyed performing in front of other people. I know that anyone who knows me NOW will find this hard to believe (and my mother may have stories to directly contradict this), but I used to consider myself to be a somewhat shy person. Needless to say, I got over it (you HAVE to, in THIS group!). This past weekend, my current quartet "debuted" ourselves at a regional meeting - and, I must say, we brought down the house.

I may be one of the first to freely admit it - but audience applause is one of the best natural highs EVER (listed right under "great sex" - but if you can get applause AND sex - BONUS!). At the risk of sounding really narcissistic, it is SO COOL to have an audience applaud for something YOU did!! I didn't do it all by myself, however, - I am very blessed to be singing with three phenomenal women who are wonderful performers in their own rite. And it didn't hurt that the majority of these people are very dear friends who only want the best for me & anyone I'm performing with. But hey, friend applause is STILL applause!

My favorite statement of the evening came from the bass singer in my quartet, who came to me after we had performed for the masses & said, "You become a totally different person when you perform! But it didn't scare me!"

Eat your heart out, Mr. Hyde.