Once More, With Feeling

A great thing happened the other night. Just, really, great.

I was hanging out with Amy and Dan at their house. And usually when I hang out with them at their place, we end up breaking into song. I recall one night a few months ago when we somehow ended up singing '70s and '80s karaoke in their living room by way of their digital cable - just the three of us, sitting around and laughing and singing together. So it wasn't unusual the other night when Dan grabbed his guitar and announced they should do "Easy Like Sunday Morning" for me while Amy accompanied him on the piano. So they did, and I just listened and enjoyed their rendition because I had bronchitis and couldn't sing along even if I had wanted to.

After they finished the song, Amy casually started playing around on the piano - playing something soft and pretty that aroused my curiosity, so I said, "That's really nice. Really pretty. What is it?" She said it was just something she'd been working on. "Really?" I asked, "Cool. I wanna hear more." She said okay, disappeared to her room momentarily, and returned with a sheet of paper. She resumed her place at the keyboard and began to play.

"I really like that. I could see writing a song to that." Then she said, "Well let me tell you some of the words I've got so far."

"Really? You mean you're actually writing a song with words and all? Wow. Cool."

After a nice intro, Amy began to sing, "I touch the fire and it freezes me..."

I immediately burst into laughter. "Oh my god! That's hilarious." See, I recognized the song instantly from the musical episode "Once More, With Feeling" from season five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Man, you really had me going there for a second. I thought you were actually writing a song. That's awesome, though."

She didn't respond but kept her attention focused on the music.

Dan was sitting next to me. I turned to him and explained why I was so amused. "See, this is a song from an episode... blah blah blah..."

He nodded with a sudden sense of understanding. "Yeeeaaah, okay. I remember seeing that." Then, all of a sudden and completely unexpectedly, Dan began to sing along.

Huh? What? What in the world was going on here? I've known Dan for a good long while - many years, in fact. I had no idea that he was familiar enough with Buffy to launch into song like that, and trust me, that's something I was certain I would have known about him. I was so confused, and I sat there dumbfounded trying to put together the pieces of this developing puzzle.

Next thing I knew, Dan arose from the couch and wandered over next to Amy at the piano while he continued to sing. And they didn't just sing - they sang harmonies and different parts. It was so strange because it was oddly similar to the way the singing occurred in the episode itself. See, in the episode, the whole town was under the spell of this demon, and no one was immune to his wily ways. Everyone uncontrollably sang all the dialogue. For a second I even had a dream-like feeling that I was in my own version of the episode. Ha!

They pressed on through the end of the song, and by the time it had ended - amidst my amusement and confusion and enjoyment - I had come to the conclusion that they had been practicing this little number. There was just no possible way that this incident was as spontaneous as it had appeared to be. When they finished, I exclaimed, "You guys have been practicing this, haven't you?!"

They laughed with joy and excitement. They told me they came up with the idea the weekend I broke my leg. They thought it just plain sucked for me, so they wanted to do something to make me happy. They had been practicing steadily for a month - learning the music, the words, the harmonies, the parts. They had even told people about their plan. So when Dan learned that I was coming over, he covertly asked Amy, "Do you think we're ready? Do you think we can pull it off? We have to do it. Who knows? It might be months before the three of us were in this situation again."

So they did it. Apparently, they discussed potential scenarios to make it happen in a way to that seemed natural, and they were thrilled with how organically the moment came together. They couldn't have wanted their scheme to go more seamlessly than it did. Amy even said she knew I was hooked as soon as I asked her what it was that she was playing. "Yes!" she thought.

Afterwards, we sat together and laughed. We recounted the scenario and the thoughts that were going through each of our heads as the event played out. And we smiled a lot. I was so pleased and touched that they would do this for me, they were giddy about my reactions from start to finish, and they were happy with themselves for pulling it off.

Once more with feeling wasn't necessary this time, though. They did it with enough feeling the first time to keep me in grins all week long.

~ the lady