My funny Valentine

The quartet and I spent the day delivering Singing Valentines around the area. Great fun and gratifying work — who doesn't love having people who can actually sing pretty well sing a song or two just for them?

It's also excellent experience for us in performing in an eclectic variety of circumstances. Today's venues included:

• The lobby of a physician's office — an annual treat from a grateful patient. We serenaded this same doctor and his staff last Valentine's Day. It's safe to say we're significantly better now than we were then.
  
• The home of a woman who just learned that her beloved dog has cancer.
  
• A convalescent home, where some of the patients eagerly sang along to the best of their memory and ability, and where others just wished we would hurry up and finish so they could get back to watching TV.
  
• A hospital surgical ward, where we entertained a roomful of people getting ready for surgery, and the clinical staff caring for them.
  
• The business office of another hospital.
  
• The county's volunteer center, one of whose benefactors offered our services as a special kind of "donation."
  
• KJ's company's lobby. She was the talk of the building for the rest of the day because her husband and his friends came and sang for her.
  
• A car on the freeway. One woman, stuck in traffic, didn't arrive home in time for us to serenade her in person. Her husband called her on her cell phone and we beamed her a couple of songs via wireless telecom as she sat in rush hour traffic.

Such a small thing, it seems, to share a soupçon of one's ability to bring a few folks a little cheer on a cold, rainy February Monday. But when you see the smiles on faces and the gleaming in eyes...well, that's a valentine in itself.