Learn to Laugh

"If you can't make it better, you laugh at it!" ~Emma Bombeck

I had the wonderful opportunity to sing at the President's Club yesterday. I was feeling really good about it! We, the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers, were to sing Balm of Gilead and Oh, What Songs of the Heart. As we went toward the Grand Ballroom in the MC (Manwaring Center) I could feel myself get a little nervous. I really had no reason to be nervous, I'd done this before . . . for some reason though the butterflies were tickling my insides!

One of the young men in the choir, Corbin, was conducting the choir that evening because Brother Kempton wasn't going to be there. He looked like he was a little nervous too; he grabbed the stand that was by the door and put his music on it. The stand tilted and his music went crashing to the floor--the stand wasn't secure! He didn't seem too worried about it. As we went on to sing I was the first to enter. I made sure that I walked away from the serving area so that the men had room to go behind me. As I stopped I looked back at the rest of the choir; the men were now entering, but they weren't going behind. Instead, they were coming in front of the women! I could feel my face flush a little, but I put on a smile that I was hoping would say "Oh yes, this was supposed to happen!" I was doing a very good job too, until my friend Devin walked past me. As he did so he whispered to me "This is ridiculous!" I snorted!

Corbin brought the stand out and placed his music on it; seconds later, the music came crashing to the floor. I couldn't help but smile a little. We started to sing Balm of Gilead (which is such a beautiful song about the atonement). When we finished I made my way back to the piano (I was turning pages for my friend Tyler). We both got back to the stage and realized that there were no stairs leading up to it. Now, side note, the stage wasn't very high, but high enough that there should have been a few stairs leading up to it. Tyler, who was in a suit, jumped up. For some reason, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to jump up onto the stage too. After I did, I felt like an even bigger idiot! I was afraid President Clark saw me and was thinking to himself "What a crazy!"

In the end, it all went fairly well. Tyler told me I was graceful as I got up onto the stage and that he was sure nobody noticed. A few of us, after the performance, talked about it and had a good laugh. It felt so much better to laugh about it then to freak out! It was a fun performance, and we learned a lot! But the most important thing I learned was to learn to laugh! =D