The Sound of Music

Erin and I met online. Yes, we're a real-life online dating success story! But just because we met online doesn't mean we don't have a cutesy story about how we met.

See, Erin lied in her ad. A lot. All our friends know the story. But if Erin hadn't lied all over her ad, I never would have responded to it, and we wouldn't be coming up on our 6th anniversary.

One of the many things Erin lied about in her ad was her taste in music. She listed pop-ish punk rock bands as her favorites. While I'm a bit of a rock snob who is all about classic, alternative, and hard rock, her interest in pop punk rock was okay with me. It could be a lot worse, I reasoned. Little did I know...

...if she had listed the kind of music she really listened to, she would have said "I like some pop, some rock, and some hip hop, but I LIVE for Broadway."  And we never would have got together.

Six years later, however, I have come to accept Erin's love of Broadway. And, I suppose, she has come to accept my love of rock. Together, we're pushing ourselves  and each other to "live out loud"  by pursuing our musical interests. My long-time dream is to sing in a rock band. And Erin's passion has always been performing in musical theater.

So lately, we've both been practicing. I've been rocking out, and she's been singing beautifully in the classical style in which she was trained. One funny thing about Erin is that she can't sing in a rock style no matter how hard she tries. Everything she sings comes out like a show tune. This is quite funny when I make her sing songs like Nine Inch Nail's "Closer." (Don't click through if you're easily offended.) It's about as far from show tunes as you could possibly imagine.

I'm really enjoying the fact that we're both working towards different but somewhat similar goals, and that we can encourage and support each other along the way. Erin's getting ready to perform again, and I'm pushing past my nerves to go from singing alone to singing with other musicians.

This is what chapter 5 in my book, Odd One Out: The Maverick's Guide to Adult ADD, is all about. Most likely, I'll never be on MTV and Erin will never be on Broadway. But we can still pursue our dreams and enjoying doing things that most people never allow themselves to.

                                                                                    

Comments

[Attentive]

OMG! People lie in their online ads/profiles!!! ;)

What else did Erin lie about? She didn't strike me as the lying kind. :)

[CT]

Sigh... At least Erin will sing. My wife claims "can't" but I know it is "won't." In our case, the ADDer ended up with miss painfully (seriously disablingly) shy. Immovable object meets irresistible (or at least unstoppable) force.

If you ask me, she was/is the irresistible one!!!

Anyway, medically speaking, if I don't sing, I'm in trouble because before long, I WILL explode into a mllion bits. Or maybe I'll melt like the Wicked Witch of the West. Whatever. Like the proverbial Shark that must keep moving or die, I must sing.

Since the day we first had more than a one-bedroom apartment, I have had a music room. Sanctuary / padded cell.

She's thankful for it. Folk music, and lots of it. And odd instruments, including autoharp and Irish bagpipes (or the way I play, Irish Badpipes.)

Rambling... O.K. Final point: Enjoy the difference, the weirdness, the unexplainableness of Punk meets ShowTune... and sticks.

May it ever be so!

(p.s.: I need a partner to record "I have a Song to Sing-O", which is from, I believe, the Pirates of Penzance. Can I borrow Erin?

CT

[Doug E]

This is a good example of why one can't do risk analysis while dating or finding the love of one's life.