April 17--A Skydive out of a Perfectly Good Comfort Zone

Freedom lies in being bold.  --Robert Frost

     My husband and I have lived together for 36 years. He is an extraordinary musical talent, an excellent singer who plays multiple string instruments. He's been in the business of performing publicly since high school. He's a pro.
     I was told by my parents many times growing up, "There is no musical talent in the Miller family." The statement was so definite that it could have been the 11th Commandment. The one time I tried out for a singing group, I was most certainly rejected before I warbled my last note. Long story short, I can't ever remember singing in front of my husband until 12 days ago (see April 5 post).
     This pandemic is inspiring. I've done a long-overdue gardening project, I'm working on a puzzle that sat unopened for a couple of years, and I decided it could be fun to sing a duet with my husband during his Thursday evening "cocktail concert" on Facebook from the man cave. Be bold, Leta.
     I printed out the lyrics, he learned the tune on the guitar, and we recorded it on my phone so that I had the tune to practice at my leisure. We practiced together. My husband was 200% encouraging. Over the past couple weeks, I went from a nervous squeaky voice to belting it out confidently, on key or not. I processed the psychological difficulties, going from "I can't sing in public" to "what the hell, this is fun, and there's absolutely nothing truly bad that can come of this."
     I did it! With Dennis performing in the man cave, I waited in the woman cave and practiced my calming breath. (Being a yoga teacher has benefits beyond the classroom.) He introduced me for my "debut," we did the song, and I sang boldly. We had told no one that I was going to do it. There were a lot of surprised folks, including me. We were both happy with how it turned out. I had told myself I was not going to watch the replay, but I couldn't resist. It was way better than I anticipated!
     I'm saying that this was both my debut and finale. I'll leave the musical talent to Dennis. The whole point was getting out of my comfort zone, and I leaped and landed safely. It was a fun trip!
     Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do,
          Leta