I just want to take a little time to tell y’all about my voice teacher, because I had my second lesson with her tonight (the first was way back in December, but we’ve both been busy since then) and she rocks.

She makes me do things like stick my fingers in my mouth and/or hold on to the end of my tongue while singing, which let me tell you I would not normally be at all willing to do in front of another human being who was still breathing. She makes me look at myself in the mirror while I am singing, which is both the single most useful thing I think I can do to improve my technique, as well as the most horrible torture. She puts telephone books on my belly while I am lying down and insists that I be able to feel cold air rushing into my mouth when I breathe, as well as that I try to smile hugely at all times.

You look confused. Don’t worry, I’m getting to why she rocks. Mostly it’s because despite all of this, for some reason I feel totally comfortable with her and don’t mind making a (little bit) of a fool of myself while she stares intently at me. She laughs a lot (not at me!) and tells me that I’m awesome when I manage to get something right. She gave me a hug tonight when I arrived and worked with me 20 minutes beyond the end of my lesson, because we were chatting a lot and generally having a fun time. She always gives me tea when I walk in the door. I just think she’s adorable. And the perfect teacher for me.

That’s all. I thought you ought to know, because it always makes me happy to meet people that I can tell I’m going to like right away — even before I know them very well — because something about them is joyful and beautiful.

So if you or someone searching for you ever happens upon this, thanks, Cecily! May it bring you many more students.