Thursday, April 26, 2012

K is for Karaoke

I could not stop thinking about it all day.  We were actually going through with it.  Somehow my best friend, Sarah, had convinced me to enter a karaoke contest with her.  This is crazy I kept telling myself.  It had been years since I even attempted to sing in front of anyone.

Just then I had a flash back of way back when I dated Jerry, the reigning "karaoke king."   I like to think I had a brief stint as the "karaoke queen" back then, but it really didn't translate to anything outside of our karaoke bar.

I met Jerry shortly after college.  I had found myself at a particularly low point in my life.  One night I decided it was time to get out of the house.  I got all dressed up and headed out alone for some fun.  When I walked in the door of the karaoke bar all I could hear was the roar of the crowd.  There was some guy singing on stage, and I was mesmerized at how he grabbed the audience's attention. 

I walked over to a table set up in the corner of the room, grabbed a binder with the song selections, and sat down.  Next thing I know I hear someone yell, "Hey, why don't you get up and sing one next?"

Suddenly all eyes turned toward me, and a microphone appeared out of nowhere.  My mind quickly turned to jelly and my knees went weak.  I thought, "Sure, I could sing along with my favorite songs on the radio, but in front of everyone?"

As I sat there with that deer in the headlight look the guy I had been so mesmerized with when I walked in came over introduced himself and said, "Come on!"  He took my hand and as we walked on stage together a confidence I had never known before took over.  We must have sang at least ten songs together that night.

I was interrupted by a cell phone going off and it brought me out of my daze.  It was Sarah calling to make sure I hadn't changed my mind.

"I don't know, Sarah" I said.  "I don't know if I can do this."

"On no you don't!" Sarah replied.  "You are NOT backing out!  I'll be over at your house in ten minutes." she said, and abruptly hung up.

Ten minutes later Sarah arrived, and I knew there was no backing out...


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