Lesson 9- Sing

Last year my son gave me an MP3 player for my birthday. Loaded with more music than I could ever listen to, that tiny electronic device changed my life. Every week when I clean house, I put in my ear buds and sing out loud to my heart's content.

Singing is good for us. It exercises abdominal muscles, stimulates circulation and makes full use of our lungs- not to mention self expression. "If you're happy and  you know it" releases more than endorphins. It sounds out your feelings.

In my house, I am never asked to sing. In fact, when my granddaughter (Valerie Fields) was only three, she politely asked me to stop singing to her at night. Not because she was too old for lullabies. But because when I sang, she explained, she could not sleep. Instead, she began singing to me at night. Fine, she has a lovely voice.

I try not to be insulted, but seriously I am the  only person in my family without a "will you sing that for me?" voice. My son and Valerie Fields' mother are both musically gifted. And listening to my husband whom I still call Biker Mike (though he no longer finds it funny) sing in the shower is one of the best reasons for living with him.
Don't misunderstand. My voice is not annoying. You just don't want to add a microphone or soundtrack to it. My hits are "Here kitty, kitty" and "Does anybody need anything from Target?".

But when I clean house, I wear that MP3 player and sing like Stevie Nicks. I exercise my vocal chords and my personal rights. I don't worry who might be listening. The combination of vacuum cleaner roar and ear phones is a tone-deaf rocker's karaoke.

What about you? Do you belt out ballads when no one is watching? Have you tried vacuum karaoke? Or do you still prefer the hair brush? What's your favorite tune to sing with abandon? Come on,  you know you've got one!

PS- There is one song Valerie Fields still lets me sing to her. She says it is my song. But that's another story.