Singing Time

To first read this post you have to know that James (my husband) is an excellent singer...really excellent. I, however, am not...

Years ago when we were living in Hanau and the big kids were the little kids, I used to sing primary songs to them on the way to church. Yes - I was the one who was doing the singing, not James. I still remember clearly sitting in the passenger seat singing "I Love to See the Temple" to my children. I probably had a vision of myself being the perfect Mormon mom. Someday, I thought, my children would mention in a sacrament talk how their testimony, love of music, ability to withstand temptation, or overall spirituality had grown from the times their mom sang to them in the van. Oh yeah, I was going great, I was reflecting in the glow of my wonderful singing/teaching moment WHEN....from James' seat I hear the voice of reality and it said "You aren't even singing that right, that's not how the tune goes." Well that brought me back to Earth pretty darn quick. All I could come back with was "At least I'm singing to them. If you want them to learn the CORRECT version, sing it yourself" Which he didn't. Which is why my kids probably think there are at least 2 versions of every primary song - the one mom sings and the one they hear at church.

Which leads me to something really funny. Since I still don't have a calling I'm subbing as primary chorister for 2 weeks (Today and next week). It was actually pretty fun, and funny, since I can't sing high enough to hit at least half of the notes in every song. Afterwards the primary pres. told me what a great job I did and she was surprised because the kids paid attention and were actually looking at me the whole time. (Side note, I didn't realize the standards of excellence in this position were so low, I thought teaching the kids to sing was a higher priority). Anyway, I think the kids just kept looking at me because I'm so beautiful - or loud.