They say you always remember your first time.
For me, the details are a little foggy. I remember I was at summer camp. I think I was 14? Maybe 13.
We had a special activity night. Most of my friends thought it was lame, and I almost didn't go. But my crush was going, and that was enough.
I was scared, but also curious. I hadn't really given it much thought before, but once the idea was presented to me I knew I wanted to do it. And so when the time came, I did.
On stage, in front of my friends, my crush, my mentors, I did it.
I sang karaoke for the first time.
As the words of Gloria Gaynor left my lips, "at first I was afraid, I was petrified..." I realized a little of that rang true for me. But I was a professional. Performing is what I did, and perform I did do. To the delight of my friends and new admirers. People danced and sang along. It was exhilarating. Later in the week people who weren't even there came up and told me they heard about my performance. I was addicted.
Since that summer, I've sang karaoke more times than I can remember. At more camps, at bars, at parties. Oldies, current hits, classic rock, Motown, jazz, Broadway, you name it, I've probably tried it. Not all songs have been successes. When you lose your voice even Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" is really high. And you never realize when you don't actually know a song until you try to sing it at karaoke. But the joy is always there. Not just in the applause, but in watching people connect as you belt out their favorite song, or dunkenly dance to songs they obviously don't know, or scream out with you as they sing their part of your call and echo.
Leading a roomful of people in a round of "Don't Stop Believing" or "Livin' on a Prayer" creates a great sense of unity among the crowd, and even those too timid to get on stage will sing loudly directly in front of you, bringing out a side of them they didn't know they had in them.
So that's my throwback. To a time where it all began, my love of one of my favorite activities. "I Will Survive" is still one of my favorite go-to songs when I don't know what else to do, although I have several others in my arsenal, and always love to try new ones.