Secret Passions

Vacation Bible School, Day 2. My job is to lead the Bible Adventures, which involves dressing up in character and leading three rotations of approximately 20 children each in a 25-minute real-life presentation of a Bible story. Today it was Daniel in the Lions' Den. In the distance, thanks to a CD-player with repeat button, the sound of the lions. After it was all over, and the kids were dismissed, one little girl comes up to me and asks, "Were those real lions in there?"

It's a lot of fun, but also very tiring. It's been made even more tiring by the 95-degree days, and my need to go drive into the city both yesterday afternoon and today, a 40-minute drive one way. Last night I returned home, and my wife then went on some errands she had to do, stopping by a friend's house to play bunko, and picking up the two teenagers who have sort of adopted themselves into our family; they spent the night last night so that it would be easier for them to get up and help out at V.B.S. today.

So, our own kids were in bed, my wife was gone, and I, tired out, settled down on the couch to do a bit of TV channel-surfing before going to bed. And I came across ... opera. Actually, an American Idol type TV show on PBS, except that the winner got to perform with the British National Opera.

Opera is so uncool, except that it's really cool. I watched the show, but worried that my wife and the teenagers would arrive home to see me watching it and laugh. I realized that opera could become a sort of secret passion ... as in, "What's that you're hiding in the shoebox under the bed?" "Oh, nothing." "Why, it's opera CDs!"

I don't really know anything about opera, and have never been to one, but last night's show was fun to watch. It got me thinking about other secret passions of mine, like friendship bracelets (what grown man would be seen making a friendship bracelet?), and, every once in awhile, watching America's Funniest Home Videos. As dumb as it is, it's one of the few shows that can make me laugh. Oh, and then there's blogging ... that's not something I work hard at keeping a secret from people I know, but then again, it's not something that I advertise.