The television was on, but I wasn’t watching it. I had the volume loud, simply to fill the silence in the house. I was just sitting there beside an empty chair trying not to think about anything.

I love to sing, but I am not a singer. Still, I belt it out in the shower, in the car, and in the kitchen. I sing in all those places and, when I do, I never notice that I am horribly off-key. That’s ...