I went to a house show Saturday night to raise money for a Haiti missions trip. If you don't know what a house show is, it's basically a night 0f mostly amateur musicians playing a few songs in someone's living room. You pay a cover and then pay outrageous amounts for drinks (but it's all for charity, so you don't mind). At the end, it turned into a bit of a singalong, which was much fun. Then I was somehow talked into going up to play a song. Yikes! At first I resisted, but then my mind was filled with thoughts of "you only live once." This would be the biggest group of people I had ever played in front of. The encouragement was centered on a friend who had heard me playing Babylon outside my apartment the other night, so Babylon it was. I was incredibly nervous, but since it was spontaneous, I luckily didn't have hours of dread built up. I have no idea how it went, or if it was an utter disaster, because I was so anxious I can't even remember clearly what happened. The first couple lines, my voice was weak and failing me, which made me even more nervous! But thankfully, I was able to muster a little composure, and things got better, but I still couldn't honestly tell you if I was even in tune. A few people afterward said it was good, so hopefully they weren't just saying that out of kindness.
One of the highlights of the night was a duet of a guy and girl, playing songs I don't really know, but were beautiful nonetheless. They are both very talented and their voices blend magnificently - for some reason, they reminded me of the couple from Once, not because they sound the same, but because their voices were complimentary in a similar way. The female of the duet frequently leads worship, and I've heard her sing in other settings, so I can pretty confidently say she has a lovely singing voice (as I think would most other people who have heard her). But what amazes me is that on the car ride home she, I think quite honestly, was talking about how nervous she was and how weak her voice sounded, and more generally how little confidence she has in her abilities. I appreciate humility, but it's still surprising to me when someone who is clearly talented, and seen by not just me but others as talented, is terrified at performing in front of people. Of course, I can definitely empathize with the feeling, I just can't understand it in her case. I mean, people ask her to perform all the time - I am not getting such requests.
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On a completely different topic, earlier Saturday I went for a run. To get onto the river trail I usually run along, you have to cross some railroad tracks. As I was crossing them this day, I noticed that a young child (maybe 3 or 4) had somehow step into one of the tracks and gotten his foot stuck, and his mother was patiently trying to get his foot unstuck. Now mind you, these tracks are used by trains, although usually at rather slow speeds. Even though there wasn't a train in sight, I was unexpectedly very concerned about this child's safety. I kept looking back over my shoulder to see if he had been freed. This got to the point that I was practically running backwards until I saw the little squirt finally running free. I had no idea I had such strong parenting instincts, but I'm glad to know they are somewhere in there.
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Come here my star is fading
And I swerve out of control
And I swear I waited and waited
Now playing: Coldplay - Amsterdam
via FoxyTunes
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