My Past is Catching Up to Me

Recently, I've had to publicly recite things that I memorized over a decade ago. I guess my past is really catching up to me here in the Philippines.

Last week, I attended an Eagle Court of Honor for a Boy Scout at Faith Academy. I've been thinking about somehow getting involved with the troop, and this ceremony seemed like a good way to get to know how they do things. Partway through the ceremony, they asked all current Eagle Scouts to come up on stage and recite the Scout Oath.

Gulp.

Like riding a bike, it just came back to me, and seemed to mean a lot more to me now than it did when I was a kid. As I and several other men stepped off the stage, someone leaned over to me and said, "I had no idea that you were an Eagle Scout!" I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not...

A couple of days ago, Faith Academy's high school choir was performing selections from Handel's Messiah, and Ellen and I went to watch our niece, Melissa, perform. Halfway through, the conductor approached the microphone and said, "Our last piece will be the Hallelujah Chorus; if any of you in the audience have ever sung this before, we would like to welcome you onstage to sing it along with the choir." Ellen nudges me in the ribs.

Double gulp.

Despite the fact that I hadn't sung it since my youth choir days in Pensacola, I went up anyway. Again--like riding a bike, it just came back to me. I got a little lost on one of the lines, but I found if you just keep repeating "Hallelujah" over and over, nobody really notices.

"Uncle Dan, I didn't know you could sing!"

Uhh...that's debatable.