Choir Fest :)

Yesterday was the day of the All Conference Choir Festival, Choir Fest for short. I had begrudgingly waited for a week for the day to arrive and when it finally did I was in foul spirits. I tried everything I could to avoid it even going so far as bribery. “Mommmmmmmmm!” I whined, “Can I please just forget to set my alarm?” I asked as I crawled into bed Monday night, her answer was a less then loving eye roll and a “go to bed”. The next morning I tried again saying “If I can stay home I will clean the house!” but still, she wouldn’t take the bait. I had no choice, I had to go to Choir Fest.

Why was I dreading it so much? As far as I was concerned it was going to be boring and about as awful as visit to the dentist where you discover that you have a cavity the size of Jupiter. I had been to previous Choir Fests in the past and each and every time I had almost fallen asleep of fainted from heat stroke (400 kids in one gym equals about 400 furnaces set to high in one room). I hadn’t had any fun and why would I want to do something where I wasn’t having fun? I definitely did not. I would have rather gone to school and that says a lot.

As I said though, I had to go. My mother had revoked my constitutional rights and I was doomed to spend 8 hours of my day and night singing until my throat hurt. So I walked onto the bus, took a seat by some of my fellow choir kids and away I went. Something strange happened though between the time I got on the bus to go to Guthrie Center and when I got off back home in good ol’ Van Meter: I had actually had some fun. Not jumping around in a bouncy house sort of fun, but it still counted! I hadn’t wanted to crawl under the bleachers and take a nap more then once and I hadn’t sat frowning continuously all day like I had assumed I would. I had sung better then I ever had before and I had laughed out loud throughout the day! All in all, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had assumed it would be.

I learned an important lesson from my experience with Choir Fest. Things can surprise you. People can surprise you. Experiences can surprise you! Therefore, having a negative attitude gets you nowhere. Its better to approach whatever you do with a smile and good vibes in your belly. Something I am going to try my hardest to do from now on! ☺