For as long as I can remember I have loved to sing. Largely because I love music and it makes me happy but singing in the car has long been a favorite activity of mine.

I know I owe a large part of my love for music to my dad. Joe Bell was in a band for years and they were always practicing at our house, or he would play songs on his guitar and there was never a road trip where we weren’t listening to music. He had an eclectic taste for music so I was exposed to nearly everyone and everything, some of the ones I remember most were people/bands like Elvis, The Supremes, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, CCR, Linda Ronstadt and so many more.

As a kid I was always a little self conscious about singing in front of people. I didn’t have the courage to do it in front of other people, I mainly did it by myself. That was in part because I wasn’t sure I was any good and when people told me I was, I didn’t believe them.

In college I would karaoke every single time we had a home match in my room by myself. Occasionally a friend, teammate or roommate would join in, but mostly I did it by myself. There were many late night karaoke sessions at 2309 Atchison Avenue in my college days. Such good memories for sure! I can remember so vividly one session where I was singing with one of our assistant women’s basketball coaches (and one of the best female basketball players of all time), Lynette Woodard. We had a lot of fun and if memory serves we sang a mean duet.

Also, I should mention, that I seriously think in song lyrics. Just today Fiona said “mom, this is how we do it” and I immediately broke out into “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan. If I hear someone say stop, I immediately say “collaborate and listen…” I just can’t help myself. I try to keep this in my head mostly but around my family I always go ahead and sing. My kids and certainly my husband are used to it, but on occasion they will call me on it or roll their eyes (mostly the girls do this). Personally, I think it’s a gift, at least for me, as it brings me personal joy!

I think the fact that I never tried out for a musical (sports made this hard as well) or did anything with singing is a regret I will always have. I’m not saying my voice is like amazing…but it’s not half bad and who knows maybe with a little training I could have been in a musical or something like that. How fun would that be? I now feel very at home with a microphone in my hand…not gonna lie!

So for years and years I have wanted a nice karaoke machine and for years I haven’t gotten it. But this Christmas I hit the mother load. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing this thing is. The day after Christmas with Bryan, my sisters family and Bryan’s sisters family we all sang for hours. The kids are also totally into it. For the past two mornings Fletcher has woken up and wanted to sing immediately. Today while I was folding laundry on my bed I heard Fiona plug that bad boy in and sing the National Anthem (can’t say that didn’t make her Mommy proud..that is my favorite song).

I’m here to tell you that the party I will have (when this Covid crap is over) to karaoke our hind parts off is going to be epic and I seriously cannot wait! I know Bryan did a lot of research about this machine and he picked a good one because my goodness…it’s amazing!

Until the karaoke party of the century can happen, I will be hooking it up in the kitchen or barn and singing by myself.

At the end of this video it captures how excited I am about this. I cannot even tell you!

There is even a option to make a female voice go to a male voice, which is what we did here. We had to sing some Hamilton songs. It’s so cool!

You guys, this is just a snippet of the goodness this amazing machine has yielded…I can’t wait to get back on it myself! This is definitely a highlight of 2020.

#dorseyshenanigans

#celebr8awesome