Proud as a peacock

(October 13, 2010)
I spent a lot of time at the computer last week.   Like every single spare moment.  The project I was working on was an example of biting off more than I could chew.  Almost.  But luckily my kids took their mommy's little hiatus in stride, and were more than happy to watch a hundred movies and subsist on chicken nuggets, fruit snacks, and the occasional string cheese, washed down by sips of water from the bathroom sink.

The project I was working on is part of the culmination of something that I went out on a limb for ten weeks ago.  A friend invited me to join her choir.  When I asked about it she merely said, "It's the best part of my year."  As for me, I thought the best part of my year wasn't getting off to a good start when I had to pay $45 for the music (because sometimes I’m too much of a tight wad to even rent a Redbox).  But when we got a stack of 14 awesome (and some crazy) songs, and I did the math of how many rehearsals we had (10…okay, that wasn’t really hard math), and how fast paced this choir was going to be, I got a little excited. 

Fast paced and exciting it was.  And spiritual and moving and powerful it was.  And totally different than I had been expecting, or would have even dared hope for in a non-audition choir.  This is a description that comes from our choir blog.

 WE ALSO SING
"We are 364 women who come from Ephraim to Logan. Many of us are wives and mothers. Some of us are divorced, widowed, single. We are housewives, employers, employees and students. Some of us are rich and struggling, others are poor and struggling. We laugh, we cry, we try to make a difference."

And now it's concert time!  I spent the last week writing program notes for our concert, because I believe in the power of the music and of our incredible director and of our choir.

My final draft of a week's worth of work was four pages of wonderfulness.  And then I remembered what my selective memory had pushed out of my mind--that our program notes had to be only one page.  And, with great sadness (tears may have been present), I began to cut and whittle down my program notes to one teensy page.

But our director posted the extended version on the choir blog.  And now I'm published!  A little.
And that's why I'm proud as a peacock. 

And if you want, JOIN OUR CHOIR!  It WAS the best thing of my year.  And I have big plans for it to be the best thing of my husband’s year, because I made him join this time around.  I bet you a week’s worth of chicken nuggets, fruit snacks and cheese sticks that it will change you, too.