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I highly recommend joining a choir. If you can't carry a tune, maybe you could learn, or you could be a volunteer to the choir. Hours together every week. Singing. You could suggest puppets, it's a good idea! I sang in two choirs during Covid (Zoom was great for that), and that saved me from feeling so isolated. Not the same as gathering in person, but there was singing.

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That’s a great idea, Sandra. I’m not sure if we have a choir in our town that isn’t part of a church. I can carry a tune and was in the choir as a kid. I can’t read music, which may be a problem. I mean, if I hear the part I can sing it. Maybe I’ll start my own choir!

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I found a choir in San Diego when I saw a note seeking choir members for a certain age, no audition. That was a really HARD choir! We performed without music sheets, and sang in five or six languages. But maybe you can find a community choir that you like. If not, like you say: start your own!

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Robyn, the equivalent of GAs for boys was RAs, which stood for Royal Ambassadors. Go figure. Another recovering Southern Baptist here, so I know this stuff (in addition to still being able to get through most of the books of the Bible if I'm pressed. I went to a camp where they put you in a line and you had to tell the counselor the next book in order to get it to the mess hall. You NEVER wanted to get caught in the minor prophets.)

BTW, my mother was the person who introduce puppets into our church. She was the church librarian and that kind of stuff came natural to her.

I so resonate with this post on so many levels. I became an Episcopalian in my early 20s after leaving home and have now been a member there twice as long as I was a Baptist . . . but almost all my "people" are still Baptist so I still know all the secret code words. The Episcopal Church isn't perfect, but we don't care who you love or how you identify yourself, we have women priest, and we get to drink wine at receptions! And it is a good community . . . many of our long-time friends in the DC area are from that institution.

And yes, I agree with Sandra that joining a choir is a great alternative. And double yes to you and your love of Jason Isbell.

DJB

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That’s right! RAs!

And, yes, all the memorization. The books of the Bible, which I have mostly forgotten. The Bible verses, many of which have stuck around. Southern Baptists were very into memorization.

I have many good friends who are Episcopalians and given that there’s no Unitarian church in town (of course), I guess that’s where I’d go if I ever went back.

Yes, thinking it’s time to go see Jason Isbell again. We saw him once in Savannah and then again at the Ryman.

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That was so very beautiful, speaking right from the heart. Thank you for once again putting my exact thoughts out there with such clarity.

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You’re welcome, Louisa!

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My favorite Jason Isbell song: If We Were Vampires

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That’s a good one!

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