Eye of the Tiger

A few weeks back, I went to pick my kids up from school, and my daughter looked depressed. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "They're having a talent show at school this month and parents can be in it. I want to ask you if you'll sing 'Eye of the Tiger' with me, but I know you'll say no."

"Sure I'll do it with you," I replied. I think she was in shock because she barely spoke all the way home, which never happens.

"Eye of the Tiger" is one of my favorite songs from my youth. I use to watch as two of my friends would stand on the picnic table at recess and sing it. I saw Rocky III many times on cable, and that song has been used in one way or another on several other TV shows or commercials.

It is also on "American Idol Encore" for the Wii, where my daughter first discovered it and fell in love with the song over a year ago. Some days, she would sing it over and over again until everyone's ears felt like they were going to bleed. My daughter would boast to me that she was the best at singing the song, so at times, I would have to prove her wrong. As my daughter feels the need to be the best at everything, these competitions would go on for a while.

So, it was fitting that this was the song she wanted to sing at the talent show, and wanting to sing it with me touched my heart. How could I say no?

We downloaded the karaoke version of the song and practiced it for a couple of days. When we went to the audition after school, I was told that I had been the only parent to participate in the talent show. The school had really hoped more parents would join in, (another father and daughter got in after the official auditions). At any rate, we got it, but we were asked to come up with some "dance moves" to go with our singing.

Neither my daughter or I had any idea what to do, and we only had one week to figure it out. I started thinking about the song's origins and Rocky III, and came up the idea that we could do "boxing moves" along with the song. Since my daughter owns a punching bag and gloves this worked out quite nicely. For the next couple of days, we would practice after school, sometimes arguing, sometimes screaming as we tried to figure out what would work best. My daughter came up with some good ideas that we incorporated into the act. The day before the show, our act had finally started to take shape.

The night of the talent show, I was a little nervous, but my daughter wasn't, not until we got all the way out to the school and discovered one set of gloves were both right-handed, (the other pair just like it was on the living room floor). I had to run all the way back home to get them. I got back about ten minutes before show-time.

All the acts were called to the back of the stage -- over a dozen elementary students who were all nervous and excited. My daughter and I were fifth on the show list. The students were left unattended by any teachers in the back, leaving me and the one other parent there. The kids were chaotic, running around. I did my best to keep them quiet, but the older ones did what they wanted to do, (mostly look through the curtain at the other acts). They only got caught twice, and after that they were better at hiding it.

After what seemed like an eternity, we were up. My husband who was suppose to videotape us, was seen running back from the bathroom with our son. He missed the first few seconds, but that was okay. The audience was excited and clapped along with the music. When we were finished, everyone clapped and cheered. Even though we weren't the best singers out there that night, the whole point is that we were there at all. Many people told me afterward that they would not have the nerve to stand up in front of all those people. For me, it did not matter what I looked like up there. Goofy or not, I was there because my daughter asked me to be.

My daughter is already preparing for next year's talent show, and whether she wants me to be in it or not, I will be supporting her all the way.