Before my family and I moved to Kansas City, we traveled around to a bunch of different churches, trying to raise support, as I mentioned once before. Or twice. Details.
We had our service down to a science - from the introductions, to my mom's testimony, to our family song, to my parents' duet, to the power point presentation, to my dad's message.
It all ran fairly smoothly each time. Until the Sunday we decided to not have the music in front of us for the family song.
Let me tell you: you do NOT realize how much you rely on something until it's not there in front of you. It is brutal and super embarrassing and you will never live it down.
Us 3 girls sang the first verse, then my parents dueted (new word) the second verse, then we all sang the last verse together.
It all went downhill by the second line of the first verse.
We started off fine, then Heidi confidently pulled a line from later on in the song and decided to throw it in to the first verse. Rachel and I were stunned. Shocked, even! Did we hear her correctly...? We did!
So of course, I started laughing. Discreetly (yeah, no, there was nothing discreet about it). But I tried to sing through it.
Then Heidi noticed that Rachel was staring at her instead of singing. So Heidi, in front of the church, looked at Rachel and shouted, "SING!"
From that point on, I was useless. I didn't even try to sing anymore.
And by now, we were on the second verse, so I had a bit of time to pull myself together...but I used it to laugh. I couldn't have stopped laughing even if I wanted to.
You know the worst part about laughing in church: YOU CAN'T STOP and there's no such thing as laughing quietly once you start (it's not limited to sitting in a pew. It can apparently affect you on stage, too). No matter what dirty looks your parents give you, how unfunny the situation is (not this one. It was very, very funny.), and regardless of the fact that what happens in church probably wouldn't be funny anywhere else. (Except for this. It would've been funny anywhere, no matter what.)
So there we are. All of us girls laughing. My parents valiantly trying to finish the song. But wait, what's this? My mom's laughing too, now? My dad's finishing the song as a solo? Even better. Let's give these people the show they came for.
By now, the audience was starting to really, really, really enjoy my family. There were a good amount of college students, kids, parents, and old people laughing...
...but the best part, to me, was seeing the pastor.
On the floor.
Laughing.
Not even trying to hide it.
There was one moment where I turned around, away from the audience. I was really trying to pull myself together! Then my dad grabbed my arm and spun me back around (that makes it sound super graceful and beautiful and like a lovely father-daughter moment. It really wasn't. It was a pretty violent, unsettling, angry spin.) which made me laugh EVEN HARDER.
My dad finished the song and we all ran for the pew. Yes, ran. All our dignity was long gone.
We still look at each other and holler, "SING!" every now and then. That will never get old. Thank you, Heidi!
That is hilarious. :-)
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