Families and Weddings and Travel, oh MY!

I get disapointed by people all the time. This is one of the curses of having tremendously high standards and always making sure to acheive them yourself. But I expected better from my sisters. My sisters who are of the same flesh and blood. The same standards and neuroses. What the hell happened?

We are a very musical family. We love singing. We're also generally pretty silly. It makes for a good deal of entertainment value whenever we are all together. So I jocularly suggest to my 2 older sisters that we do a little song at the "Welcome Dinner" Saturday night of the wedding weekend. And to get the ball rolling with ideas, I put forth a song from Stephen Sondheim's musical "COMPANY" called "The Little Things" here's a soundbite.

Here's the Lyrics (Skip this paragraph if you just want to know the story):
It's the little things you do together,
Do together,
Do together,
That make perfect relationships.
The hobbies you pursue together,
Savings you accrue together,
Looks you misconstrue together
That makes marriage a joy.
Mm-hm...
It's the little things you share together,
Swear together,
Wear together,
That make perfect relationships,
The concerts you enjoy together,
Neighbors you annoy together
Children you destroy together,
That keeps marriage intact.
It's not so hard to be married
When two maneuver as one,
It's not so hard to be married
And, Jesus Christ, is it fun.
It's sharing little winks together,
Drinks together,
Kinks together,
That makes marriage a joy.
The bargains that you shop together,
Cigarettes you stop together,
Clothing that you swap together,
That make perfect relationships.
Uh-huh...
Mm-hm...
It's not talk of God and the decade ahead that
Allows you to get through the worst
It's "I do" and "You don't" and "Nobody said that"
And "Who brought the subject up first?"
It's the little things, the little things, the little things
It's the little things, the little things, the little things
The little ways you try together,
Cry together,
Lie together,
That make perfect relationships.
Becoming a cliche together,
Growing old and gray together
Withering away together
That makes marriage a joy.
It's not so hard to be married,
It's much the simplest of crimes.
It's not so hard to be married,
I've done it three or four times.
It's people that you hate together,
Bait together,
Date together,
That make marriage a joy.
It's things like using force together,
Shouting till you're hoarse together,
Getting a divorce together,
That make perfect relationships
Uh-huh
Kiss, kiss
Mm-hm.


They are both very receptive. Neither has a better idea for the content and both are willing to do it. Fast forward a week, and I have gotten my brother's best friend (a piano genious) to agree to accompany us. My mother dug out my keyboard from my bedroom closet at her house (this was bought for sophomore year Piano 1 and 2 classes at the University of Arizona) and UPS'd to said best friend so he will have something to accompany us on (his portable needs a professional sound system). And most importantly, I have gone all the way up to Lincoln Center from my office in Murray Hill on the hottest summer day in years, to get to the NYPL Performing Arts Library so that I can copy the sheet music SO THAT I can sneak onto the company scanner SO THAT I can send PDF's to said best friend SO THAT he can be familiar with the music ahead of time AND my sisters and I can hold the music in our hands. Not to mention the emailed lyrics and links to sound clips, suggestions of places where my sisters can download the song for free or $0.99, reccommended going to their local library if they have time to listen to the song in its entirety a couple times, but also promising to bring my cd and diskman so they can listen in Denver this weekend as well. No requests came from me for choreography or harmonies or matching outfits. Just a willingness to follow up on what you already said sounded good to you.

AND NOW, they are both having doubts and second thoughts. Fuck that! Suck it up. Get it done. It's really not that hard to become familiar with something enough to sing your highlighted lines while holding the music and listening to the cues the piano will give you -not to mention the repetitive nature of the song, nor the fact that you will be up there with 2 other people!

Sheesh.