When I was little I wanted to be a musician. I thought that I could be the next Britney Spears. I even asked my mom if I could have my hair cut like Spears but she told me that my hair was way too pretty to shave off.
That is very much so beside the point. I loved to sing. I would sing anytime I got the chance. I would sing if I was bored, happy or sad. There was no exception as to where I would sing either.
It was only a few weeks after 9/11 and my mom, dad and grandma decided that going to the movies would help get their minds off the tragedy that took place earlier that month.
Being only 2 years old I didn’t know what was going on. All I knew was that something bad had happened to America.
When we got to the movies my mom misread the playing time, so we ended up having to wait about 30 minutes on a hard bench. Being so young I could hardly sit still and I was driving my parents insane.
About 15 minutes into the wait I was bored. So I started to hum. Then to sing under my breath. That transferred into me standing up on the bench singing the National Anthem that I had just learned at daycare earlier that week. (With a few new words added in as I went.) Instead of Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light. I said Oh say can you see by the Donalds fat thighs.
You could only imagine my parents embarrassment! It was not every day that you see a 2 year-old singing the national anthem at the top of her lungs in the middle of the movie theater!
But whenever they tried to quiet me I just got louder and louder. When they finally gave up I had a whole crowd of people around me crying, clapping, laughing and just flat-out confused.
When I finished my solo a woman walked up to my parents, shook their hands. She told them that was amazing. I gave her hope in the future of this country. Other people said the same thing. My parents weren’t as embarrassed anymore.
When we made it to the movie and got our seats, I decided that I wasn’t done with my small concert.
I waited until about five minutes until the movie started and I walked down to the front of the theater put my hand on my hip and said,
“This is for America!” And then I started singing the National Anthem again. By this time my parents were swearing that they would never go to the movies or anywhere in public with me again.
If you are wondering how this innocent trip to the movies could get any worse, once I finished singing the song I decided to go up and down the aisle saying,
“Thank you for coming,” and putting my hand out for money. I ended up getting $15.
From that day on my dad swore that we would never go to the movies until I was old enough to know what public embarrassment is. Honestly, I see no problem with showing a little bit of patriotism.
