My soul delighteth in the song of the heart

I have always loved to sing but until I joined the church I didn't think I had a voice worth listening to. Shortly after John and I got married someone sitting next to me said "you have a very pretty voice, you should be in the Ward choir". Being a new member of the church, I didn't know that every ward choir is always desparate for people! I was so excited and I joined right away! John and I both sang in the choir from then on. We always found that the best way to integrate into a ward qucikly was to join the choir.
I've always followed the person next to me so I am no accomplished singer but I sure have loved doing it. I have learned an incredible amount and have been able to sing in some small groups and even did a solo one time (didn't turn out very good!). I have been blessed to sing with my daughters which gave me great joy and our whole family even sang one time in Sacrament meeting.I love all of the hymns and can quote them much better than scripture! They bring me peace when I am upset,teach me principles and help me express my thoughts along with chasing off sadness or bad thoughts. They are part of my everyday life and to know that they are a form of prayer gives them added meaning.
A few years ago I began to notice that my range was lowering and I was having difficulaty singing the higher notes. I started sitting next to second sopranos and that worked for awhile.I knew I might be able to learn the alto part if I always sat next to someone to follow but my head was so full of the soprano part that it just didn't.
The last several weeks in church I have discovered that I can't even fake the high notes any more, not even the second soprano part (which I could never do on my own). As I sat in church today I realized, sadly, that it will probably never be back and that I need to learn to deal with this "new" voice.

Darn this growing old stuff! I love to sing but mostly now it will have to be in my heart.