Thanks so much for the many useful ideas. In particular, I think drilling myself on the song so that I can go on "automatic" and focusing on an object may do the trick. I also like the idea of standing where I am heard, but not where I am watching and being watched by everyone. There will probably be no one but family there, although it is a large family, and reminding myself that singing for a religious service is not a "performance" (I am not a performer) will help to keep my own ego out of it some, and may help keep the anxiety down.

A bit of thread creep to pay tribute to my grandmother. She was born and raised in the coal fields in West Virginia. Her husband was killed in a mining accident in 1938 when my mother was age 9. She had a 16 day old baby at the time. She vowed that none of her sons would go down in the mines. She left her kids with my great
grandparents and went to Huntington WV to go to beautician school. When she finished her training she went to work and soon brought the entire family out of the coal fields, her parents and sisters and brothers as well as her kids. She never made much money, but she kept the family together and gave her kids better opportunities than she ever had. She was loads of fun and always on the go. When she took her false teeth out she could bend up her chin and touch the tip of her nose with it. Quite an impressive trick to all of us grandkids. She was outspoken to the point of inadvertent rudeness.

I didn't appreciate how tough her life was until I tried to get her to go see the movie Maitewan when it came out. I though she would really enjoy it since it was about the area and the times in which she grew up and where she lived until her 30's. She flat refused to go. Said she did not want to be reminded of those troubled times.

She had really bright blue eyes that literally twinkled.

Love you Granny.

Janie