... and the rockets red glare ...

I LOVE that I am a Canadian Citizen. I LOVE Canada. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. (Except maybe New York city. But who wouldn't want to live in New York??? It's only the best city in the world. And I've always dreamed of being on Broadway and getting to be one of the actors who stand in the back alley just before and after the performances and drink coffee and smoke - only I wouldn't smoke because that's just a really bad habit and makes your lungs all black and icky and makes your breath smell horrible and your teeth yellow and why on earth would anyone ever do that - and I would stand around with the rest of the company from whatever successful show I was in at the time and talk about how there is no way that Rachel should have been given the lead over Carolynn and you'd have to be a total idiot to NOT see that ... ) but, I digress ...

I LOVE Canada. And I was SO super proud of my country at the Olympics this year. Every time the national anthem was played as the Canadian flag was raised for yet another GOLD medal, my heart swelled with pride and I realized I really do like "O Canada" ... but not to sing. It's just kinda dull ... to sing.

It has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl - for as long as I can remember really - to sing the Canadian and US National Anthems at a really big sporting event. No starting small for me, of course, no "doing my time" at the Belleville Bulls games. No way. Bring on the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup or the World Series. And while both anthems are usually sung, I would (of course) only be interested in belting out the Star Spangled Banner.

Because we all know the Star Spangled Banner ROCKS. And O Canada just doesn't somehow.

When you get to the part in the Star Spangled Banner where you get to sing "and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there ..." - WOW. "O Canada we stand on guard for thee" .... little anti climactic really. (Again, let me stress how much I LOVE Canada.)

I would stand in my dining room as a young person (I won't ever admit to my actual age when all this was going on) and would belt out the Star Spangled Banner as loud as I possibly could. Yeah. I memorized the words.

I had to be ready, ya know, in case Whitney wasn't able to make it to the Super Bowl.

And ready I was. I was sure that I was the best anthem singer on the PLANET. And it wasn't an ego thing or anything, I was just really the best and I just knew it ...

Fast forward to present day ...

I've never been asked to sing the anthems. I'm sure it's only because I haven't the foggiest idea how one would go about securing a gig like that ... Like, do I walk over to the Air Canada Centre and say "put me down for the anthems please, I'm good for next Thursday night?" So, it's still just a dream.

Of course I practice all the time ... in the shower.