The audition

There are certain songs in life that can take you back in time to moments you will absolutely never forget.

Even if those moments weren't your most shining.

When I was in the grocery store the other day, a song started playing overhead that gave me a flashback to a singing audition that might make the judges on The Voice quit their jobs and never listen to another person sing again. Ever.

Yes, it was that bad.

I've never been musically talented. I even got in trouble with my music teacher in the fifth grade because she thought I was playing the recorder badly on purpose. She sent me out in the hall, and I remember seeing all of my hopes of any musical endeavors I had come crashing down—after all, this was the same teacher who had given me a talking part when I had auditioned for a solo in the choir performance for open house the year before. It was a sad reality that hurt, and I never took music seriously again.

I can't help but admit that I love performing, and anyone who knows me has probably seen me sing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" at least once or twice, but I know I'm never going to sign on with a record label, and I doubt I'll be invited to perform at any awards shows anytime soon (or ever, whatever). And, after my elementary school musical failures, I didn't sing with legitimate effort in a serious setting again.

It helped my rap career.

Until my senior year of high school.

My best friend and I had made a bet, and I lost. According to the stipulations of said bet, if I lost I had to audition to sing at our graduation, and I had to be serious about it. I had to go into the auditions making people—especially the judges—believe that I actually thought I was talented enough to sing at the ceremony. She got pretty excited and told as many people as she could that I was auditioning, and so I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal but would instead be a funny memory I got to share with my friends.

False.

What I didn't know was that the auditions were in a private room with the choir teacher and all of the assistant principals.

Oh.good.gosh.

I was a goody-goody in high school, and I really didn't want to get in trouble for making a mockery of the privilege to sing at graduation, so I decided I was going to fake it as much as I could into making the APs and choir teacher think this was something I truly wanted. I suddenly regretted agreeing to the bet. It happens sometimes.

It really didn't help that I chose a song that wasn't so easy to sing: "At the Beginning" from the movie Anastasia. It's a duet by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis—you know, a male and a female. Oh, and there is one really high note in the song that makes my voice squeak every single time. It's also quite difficult to sing the parts for two different people, especially once their voices start overlapping each other's by the end of the song. But I sure attempted it.

When the song finally ended (I swear it was longer in that audition than any of the times I had practiced it in my car), the room fell completely silent. I'm sure they all wanted to laugh. Or cry for me. Or clean their ears. I just wanted to leave. I stood there awkwardly waiting for someone to say something. Anything. After what seemed like an eternity, one of the APs said, "Ok, thanks. We'll post results later."

Like I really needed to see them.

Obviously I didn't get the gig, and one of the APs later told me (in front of my entire English class) that "it would be a cold day in hades" before she ever let me have the mic at graduation. Talk about a boost of confidence. But, I'm glad I went through that ridiculous experience, because I really feel like it helped me grow as a person. Life is full of awkward moments, and it's certainly full of failures—and I got to experience both all at once. It made me realize that sometimes you can't escape things, and you just have to be bold. Who cares if people think you're bad at something? So what if you can't bring people to their feet in applause with your vocal aspirations? It was actually kind of fun singing at the top of my lungs to an audience of more than just my dashboard.

After all, it makes me smile to let that memory dance through my head when I unexpectedly hear the song come on the speakers at a grocery store. I even started to sing along. Some people around me gave me some odd looks, but that's alright.

Life is full of much more than we ever thought we'd face, so we might as well be bold every chance we get.

So belt it as loudly as you can, because Someone much bigger than a panel of judges thinks your voice is beautiful.