"Let the beauty we love be what we do." -Rumi

I have my dear songwriter friend, McCall Erickson to thank for this quote since she's the one who first introduced it to me, for which I'm grateful.

I just celebrated another birthday and must say, this one has really hit me.  I feel frightened and fragile at the thought of getting older.  I'm just not ready! (said with fists clenched and me lying on my tummy, kicking and screaming....)  No, that's not a pretty sight.  And maybe that's what I'm fearing about it all.  It ain't pretty, this buisness of growing old.  Not that I am old, yet.  But judging by how quickly this last year has flown by, and the one before that, old age is going to come whether I like it or not.  It's just a part of life.

I have distinct memories from my child hood with my beautiful grandma Fern who used to say to me, "Honey, my life began at 40.  That's about the time I stopped caring so much about what others thought of me and began living my life."  She lived such a beautiful life, and Oh, that I can do the same! To live beautifully is to live authentically.  To live authentically is to live courageously.  And to live courageously means to face my fears.  I've given my dream to the world, this dream of making music for all the world to hear, and since then, the struggle inside of me has become more fierce to bring it forth.  Honestly, it can be so scary sometimes when you put yourself out there!

I feel changed.  Time has a funny way of doing that to us.  There is an exquisite, glorious and beautiful dream inside of me that I can't ignore.  It's been sent to me to help heal the world.  If I ignore it, will Heaven itself mourn because the dreamer, impatient and weary, relied on her own strength only and could do no more?  This year, I resolve to trust my beautiful dreams to the same Power that sent them to me, and this same Power will help me make them come true.