Sing! - Robert Merrill

"When in doubt, sing loud." ~ Robert Merrill

I woke up a few minutes ago and am not feeling well. I picked up something to read and saw that quote from Robert Merrill and it immediately made me smile and think about something more pleasant than what I am feeling right now, so I decided that as long as I was awake, I would write about something that makes me happy.

I have probably said this before, but I miss singing in the car with Roby. It was one of the best things about our relationship. He actually had a lovely and robust tenor voice and liked to sing the female role in any duet. I have a not-as-lovely alto (or lower) voice and I would just sing the opposite role in any duet. In the "Mountain Duet" from "Chess", I sang the Russian and he sang Florence. In "I Know Him So Well", he sang Florence and I sang the Russian's Wife. We also loved singing "The Embassy Lament" from "Chess" which always reminded us both of Oompa Loompas.

We also sang "Les Miz" together - he liked to sing Javert and I Jean Valjean. We used to sing EVERYTHING together - Everything but the Girl, Alison Moyet, musicals...you name it. "Phantom of the Opera" though - he loved to sing Phantom. I think he saw himself in the same way - lost, alone, emotionally tortured. He related to that emotional space so much.

Anyway, I miss belting out songs with him. Sometimes, now, when I'm driving to work, I will put on "Defying Gravity" from "Wicked" or a song from "Spring Awakening" and just let it rip. Not too often - it isn't the same singing alone. But it does hearken back to those days. That carefree attitude and spirit that people have when they are young. We weren't ever carefree, really, but we pretended that we were. :)

If I don't start feeling better soon, maybe I will just belt out a tune. It might help.