My Singing Husband

There are those blessed with the gift of song, and those who are blessed with many other gifts instead. I am the former, while my husband is the latter.


I have about a dozen songs that I sing to entertain my daughters, most of which I made up off the top of my head and can only remember because my two year old demands that I sing them so often. My husband would rather entertain my daughters by roughhousing with them or teaching them how to make a lego tower architecturally sound.


There’s nothing wrong with my husband’s vocal cords. It’s just that he’s not confident he will sound good when he sings. When he knows a song really, really well, he might sing along to it. The list of songs in this category include James Bond themes and anything really catchy that has been used extensively as background music in Doctor Who.


There are even fewer songs that my husband will belt out unaccompanied, not to mention in order to do that he has to be in a sillier mood than usual, kind of a “everything is all right with the world so I must sing” kind of mood.


Twice I have captured this mood on a recording device. The first time was when we were engaged, and he called me while I was working and had to leave a voicemail. The manager came back to yell at me for squealing loudly and disrupting the dining room when I listened to the message: “Sweetheart, one thing before we part: a kiss to build a dream on!” The second time, I was secretly filming him as he sang along with the Jeeves and Wooster soundtrack in the car. I still have the video file, but for some reason only the audio works now. When I play it, I’m still able to hear him finish the song and demand a kiss after I laugh and tell him that I love it when he sings.


Our two year old daughter is completely unaware of my husband’s disinclination for vocal performance, so while they’re playing with blocks, she will order a song to be sung. “Sing ‘Baby Sister,’ Daddy!” she commanded the other day. “Daddy doesn’t know that one, Honey,” I told her, and they went back to playing. A few minutes later, she said, “Sing ‘ABCs,’ Daddy!” There was a moment of hesitation, and then I heard him: “A, B, C, D, E, F, G...”


There are a lot of things that my husband does for his family, some of them he enjoys (making us bacon wrapped shrimp for dinner), and some of them are less enjoyable (getting up early in the morning to go to work), but that was one of those moments when I could see how much he loves us. My daughters and I are so blessed to have the best husband and father in the world.


I love you so much, Husband. Thank you for everything you do. Happy Father’s Day.