Why lie, at times I sing while I’m driving. I’m convinced I’m able to hit the high notes with Steve Perry and am pitch perfect on the squeals of Axl Rose.
“Practice is overrated”
However, the cold, hard truth is that I’m not much of a singer. This became abundantly clear to me when I was 12. One Sunday sitting in church with my mom, I made a conscious effort to give my best effort singing a hymn.
As I sang like a bird, my mom gave me a solid nudge and with a serious leer said verbatim, “Shut up and sing right!” Game. Set. Match!
Here’s another little secret. I haven’t sung in church since. I lip sync. Exclusively. That’s right, I am the Milli Vanilli of the United Methodist Church.
So with that kind of musical pedigree, I figured it was time for the Dads’ Bucket List crew to debut our singing talents in front of a live audience. That’s right, this month’s experience was to regale the masses with some Christmas caroling.
The plan was simple, we’d meet at my house at 4:00 one evening where we’d labor for 2 hours of practice before hitting the public with the high notes.
We had everyone on hand by 5:55, which left us exactly 5 minutes to perfect our craft. We did this by gathering in the garage with the doors closed for a 5 minute harmony session. I’m not gonna pull any punches, we were simply melodic. So off we went.
We’re a band!
Low hanging fruit was the order of the evening. A neighbor with a 1-year-old that wouldn’t be able to verbalize whether or not we sounded good or bad was our first stop. We killed it with some “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”.
From there, we hopped in cars to hit another neighborhood and knocked out some “Joy to the World”. Now, we were humming and decided to up the degree of difficulty by adding instruments.
We grabbed a snare drum, xylophone, clarinet and even a trumpet. We weren’t mere carolers anymore. We were a band! And we knew it!
With confidence pouring through our veins, all we needed to see were Christmas lights on for us to knock and start singing. We added “Little Drummer Boy” and a trumpet solo of “Jingle Bells” to the play list. We were on point.
We got smiles, we got high fives. Even a couple of hugs. One thing we didn’t get, you ask? A record contract.
That’s okay though because just like the way I think I sound good singing in my car, we walked away with the memory of sounding angelic as we caroled to the masses.
I’ll admit, this wasn’t our best planned outing. But it was something that none of us had ever done before so it fit the Bucket List criteria. Most importantly though, it was memorable.
“Dad, you rock”…and so do you, Little Man
My youngest son, Bo, confirmed this later that night when he told me “that was the best Dads’ Bucket List outing ever.” Good to know that simplicity still sells.
Also, good to know that through the years, Dads’ Bucket List is still cranking out the hits.
Happy New Year!
Dads' Bucket List 