Just singin'.

Let's first make a few things clear:

1. I'm not much of a pianist.
2. I love to sing, and found little interest in learning to play the piano until I realized I could accompany myself.
3. I'm not much of a pianist.

I set a goal to improve upon the aforementioned piano skills (or lack thereof) by volunteering to accompany our ward choir more often than I had done over the past few years. I also planned to sit myself down regularly shortly after putting the kids to bed to fool around on our extremely out-of-tune upright. Because as any piano player with children knows, the kids completely ignore the fact that there's an instrument in the front room until dear old mom decides to indulge herself in a few minutes of musical enjoyment. At which point, they squeeze onto the bench, onto her lap, on the keys(!) to squelch even her best attempts at reviving an almost-lost talent.

Alas, the past eight years have seen a significant regression in my piano-playing abilities (and, consequently, my singing).
Anyway, since initiating this new practice of playing while the kids are nestled in their beds, I've noticed an increase in the kids interest in music overall, and in fiddling around on the piano in their spare time. Bonus points.

But, since, as I might have mentioned before, I'm not the world's greatest pianist, I sometimes spend most of my singing/playing time fumbling around for the right keys - which, tends to take the wind out of my sails when I'm belting out show tunes. So last week a friend of mine indulged me. She's not just my friend, she's my visiting teacher (in the Mormon community, that's a person assigned to look out for you on a regular basis). And, since it's her obligation, her being assigned and all :), she volunteered to come over one night and play song after song after song so I could revive those rusty pipes of mine. It was SO fun! And, best of all, it was nice to know that I've still got it. I'm in my living room, but I've still got it.