I’m not a huge “texter.” My phone is still the cheap-o, free one that came with our plan four years ago. I don’t abbreviate my sentences down to acronyms, or substitute a “2” for a “too.” But I do text my husband a lot (not while driving though, I promise!). Once a week, when I play piano for nearly 7 hours straight at the ballet school (a job I absolutely adore ), I find a few seconds in between songs to either read or send a text to Eddie. After hours on a wooden bench with minimal food, water, and bathroom breaks, a text can relieve some of the monotony. If you were to read the texts between Eddie and I, you would think we were either hopelessly romantic, or clinically insane. Sometimes it will be an elaborately written out lyric that’s been going through one of our head’s all day, “Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Poker face.” And answered with an exuberant, “CAN’T READ MY, CAN’T READ MY, NO HE CAN’T READ MY POKER FACE!” And followed up with an, “I HATE that song!” In the Army, during...

"Sentimental Journey" has been my favorite song since I was 14. I never heard it before my piano teacher, Mr. Capps , taught it to me. He explained that it was a staple, a necessity, and it was the very first song that I learned to play a boogie-woogie left hand to. I immediately loved the melody and searched for a recording of the song so I could learn the words also. My mom found a CD called Songs that got us through World War II , with Doris Day singing her  incomparable   rendition .  That's when I learned what an important song "Sentimental Journey" truly was throughout the 1940's. I began playing it at every nursing home, retirement home, and of course every weekend at Lee's Restaurant . I wish now that I had documented the number of times that someone, usually an elderly person, approached me with a personal story or memory brought on by that song. Once I played it on an old, upright piano at a World War II museum and soon attracted a crowd of...

I’ve written about Eddie quite a bit – how we met, fell in love , and got married against military regulation. But I’ve never told the story of how he proposed. We only dated for 2 months, but I knew the day was a comin’ and just wondered how and when he would ask. I was his supervisor in the Army and we were keeping our relationship a secret due to the Officer/Enlisted fraternization policy in the Army, forbidding anything but professional relationships between the two grades. Eddie recently got a traffic citation for speeding and talking on his cell phone, and as a result, had to attend a sort of military-stop-class for the next four Saturdays. As his supervisor, and his girlfriend, I knew all about this. However, my Platoon Sergeant who also was one of Eddie’s supervisors, approached me with the sincere desire to help out one of his troops, Eddie (or Sergeant Grimes as we’ll call him in this story).  “Ma’am,” my Platoon Sergeant said, “We have a real problem with Sergeant Gr...

This song just says it all. I haven’t heard the old hymn in years, but today as I was channel surfing while driving, I heard the lively melody and started tapping my toes. As I began to do as the song says, count my blessings, I suddenly found it very difficult to think of one thing that I was not thankful for. Yes, the check engine light is on in my car, but at least it runs. Yes, I wish I had a washer and dryer, but I live right across the street from a laundry mat. Husband, health, job, family, friends. The list goes on and on. So while some recommend as a cure for feeling down, a nap, a bubble bath, or a vacation (all nice things), the real solution is to listen to this song and do as it says. Count your blessings! "Count Your Blessings"  by Johnson Oatman Jr, 1897 When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Refrain:...

It was a grim day in August of 2010. The birds stopped chirping, the sun sank behind the clouds, and there was wailing in the streets. My laptop computer, which safely housed my music library of nearly 10,000 songs, crashed. It was an indescribable feeling of loss when I recalled the hundreds of CDs that I meticulously transferred onto the computer, one by one, organizing by genre and artist, and now they were all gone. Not to mentioned the hundreds of dollars worth of downloaded music. To make matters worse, I had recently given all my hard copies of CDs away. Who needs to lug those old-fashioned things around when everything fits so nicely onto the computer? And so every CD I had ever purchased since my very first one in junior high (the Evita soundtrack), was gone forever. We rushed the machine to the emergency room – the Apple store in the mall – but it was no use. Nothing could be recovered. Months went by and I tucked my grief away, not letting myself contemplate the enormous lo...

If I've learned anything from writing this blog every day since February 4th , it's that moments of joy are in the most unlikely places, and to see and notice them, all we have to do is make an effort to look. I've found these moments on a bus, at work, stuck in traffic, on my couch, or in my yard. I've found them on the most cranky, exhausting, and boring of days. And I've found them in unremarkable situations that a few months ago, may have passed right by me.  Today as I practiced the piano, just like a million times before, it finally struck me just how sweet it is that my dog, Joy , lays right next to my feet as I plunk away at the keys for hours. Luckily, the camera was in arms reach and I snapped a quick shot. She's a good and loyal dog and really has brought me a great deal of happiness since I got her for Christmas last year. Today is just another reminder that joy lies in the most unexpected places, and how thankful I am to see it. 

I decided to post another video from last week's performance at People Kitchen and Lounge because I realized that that was the first time that I've ever performed my song, " I Still Think About You ." I wrote this song in 2004 and never gave much thought until I decided to plow through all of my songs a couple years ago and record them whether I like it or not. This one turned out better than I thought and may even be on the upcoming EP with Modern Vintage Recordings . Funny when I remember how I nearly wrote this one off as no good and condemned it to a life in the" trunk of lost and unfinished songs." So enjoy the video, even though the lighting and sound are horrible.