I never thought I couldn't sing until a fellow teenager expressed disbelief that I thought I could ably handle some singing chore (either a talent show or something -- I forget the details). I had sung in school choir -- even singing harmony from 4th grade on.

Wow. One little comment in passing and I have never stopped second guessing myself and my abilities.

But this is a subject about which I am SO sensitive because there are few things about which I am more frustrated in this life than the fact that I have a really common voice -- not a voice that can't carry a tune (I can still even sing harmonies), but a voice that sounds so UNmusical, so uninteresting, so weak, that I am to singing what, say, Joe Lieberman is to oratory.

If there's a happy ending to this it isn't in the ability to prove other's judgement of my abilities wrong, it's that I have found a circle of people, a style of music, and a level of performance that still allows me to share the joy of singing.

I am still crushed from time to time at having a HUGE limitation when it comes to participating in the one thing I most enjoy in life -- music. I guess I sing like a wheelchair basketball player plays basketball. If you asked him he'd probably say that he enjoys the sport...
.....but I'll betcha he'd tell you that he'd rather be playing the runnin' 'roung kinda hoops.