When I was in 3rd grade, my teacher went on maternity leave. In her place came Mrs. Bream, a young woman, who was married to the brother of then-Atlanta Braves player Sid Bream. I liked Mrs. Bream, and when we found out she also taught piano, she became my piano teacher as well. Now you would think that in a couple of years I would have learned something, but then I never was much for practicing, so I think there was just a lot of repetition going on.
Mrs. Bream also taught voice lessons, and we worked that in with the piano. When I was in 2nd grade, I had pneumonia, with severe dehydration and (we think) a bit of meningitis (I could also be wrong about this, as I was 8, but it was something that was not good). This all happened right around my 8th birthday, which wasn't a pleasant time. I recovered, mostly, but with one negative result. The muscle(s) that move the pharyngeal flap were weakened, resulting in more air flow when I spoke, and being very hard to understand and very, very nasal. I guess I got teased about it a lot, but I don't really remember.
So, back to the song. Mrs. Bream taught me voice, and encouraged me to sing. I really enjoyed Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the U.S.A.", and became so confident in myself that when I was ten, I sang for our church's talent show. I didn't win, but I didn't care. I don't think I even knew of my issue at the time, to be honest. I knew I was in speech therapy because I had issues with "R"s, but I think that was all tied together.
Eventually I had corrective surgery, and I remember waking up thinking my tongue was gone and freaking out a bit. Oh wait, that was because they also clipped my tongue's frenulum when they did the surgery. Two birds with one stone and all...
So yeah, long story short, the song from my childhood is once again, "God Bless the U.S.A.". And while I'd love living in Vancouver, I am proud to be an American.
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