I’m so proud. January is half over, and I’ve stuck to my New Year’s Resolution. It’s a first for me.

Every year, I’ve made the same resolutions -- a laundry list of should-dos and don’t-dos that basically go against my grain.

1. Eat less
2. Exercise more
3. Follow a budget
4. Be nicer to the husband

But this year, I made only one resolution: Add joy.

The idea came to me last month at a “Jersey Boys” performance in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas really isn’t about joy. Glitz, certainly. Indulgence, sure. Addiction, sadly.

But you can get really cheap tickets to some great shows in Vegas. And every time I go to a show, there’s a chance I’ll encounter joy.

I’ve wanted to see “Jersey Boys” for a long time; not because I’m such a fan of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, but because it’s a Tony winner, a mega-hit, and I’ve wanted to know what all the hoopla is about. So when Greg and I saw half-price tickets to “Jersey Boys”, Vegas Unit, we grabbed them.

The show was fun throughout. The music snappy; the dialogue mercifully brief. But it was the finale of “Who Loves You” that launched me to my feet -- cheering, dancing, clapping, crying. And when the boys hit that final “Ah – Haaaaaaaaah,” in perfect four-part harmony, I felt it – pure, naked, transcendent joy.

On a feeling scale of 1 to 10, most of the time I’m a 4. Not depressed, not quite content, just taking care of business day in and day out. I’ve been a 4 so long, I forgot what it feels like to be a 10.

It feels great! So great that I scrapped my annual resolves to lose weight and pinch pennies, and replaced them with only one goal: Add joy.

Which, it turns out, is a bear. Whereas happiness is pretty easy to grasp – take time to smell the roses, rescue a puppy, buy a new pair of gold hoop earrings – joy is a whole other ball of wax.

Joy demands:

• Self-knowledge: What makes you forget time and escape gravity?
• Guts: What delight have you been too scared to pursue?
• Motion: Joy’s not going to knock on your door: You must discover it.

For me, joy arrived in the form of the Vienna Falls-Chorus, a Sweet Adelines International chapter -- Region 14 Champions! -- which raises rafters with its barbershop-style, four-part harmony.

I’m beginning to sense a pattern.

I’ve wanted to sing with the Sweet Adelines forever. But my voice isn’t what it was 15 years ago when I starred in the Naval Research Laboratory’s production of “Nunsense.” Perhaps you caught my Reverend Mother.

I haven’t used my voice much since then, other than to yell at the dogs or call my son to dinner. So what was once a credible second soprano, is now a sound in search of a pitch. I left my last audition for a McLean Community Players musical with a defeated wave and an embarrassed, “Call me when you do a play.”

But joy rewards courage and action. So I practiced a few scales and drove to the group’s weekly rehearsal in Fairfax.

The Vienna Falls-Chorus is a sorority of about 80 women, thin to zaftig, finishing college to replacing hips. Their common denominator is they love to sing a capella, show a fondness for sequins, and feel bliss when they hit a four-note chord on the nose.

Adelines embraced me before I sang a note or even put down my purse. I was handed a notebook of sheet music, placed on the risers, and assured that everyone feels lost at first.

When I sang the first note I felt amused, challenged and apprehensive. But when my voice blended with a perfect pitch “Ah – Haaaaaaaaah,” I felt part of a choir of angels.

I felt joy.

If harmonizing to “How Many Hearts Have Your Broken?” is your idea of a good time, the group is hosting a Global Open House on Tuesday, January 17.*

You have nothing to lose, and so much to gain.

Three little letters.

F-U-N!

*Global Open House Jan 17, 2012, 7 to 10 p.m.
Kena Temple, 9100 Arlington Blvd., Fairfax, VA
sing@viennafalls.org
703-242-SING

Lisa Kaplan Gordon writes about her real life in the McLean Patch.