"Feather in a Hurricane" A turbulent whirlwind came. Atrocious, frightening weather. And it tossed everything in it's path. In it's midst was one lonely feather. Try as it might,  It was powerless to fight. First cast aloft, and then nether. Twas easier when  They were all on the hen And could fight the current together!

~~~ I hardly ever get carded anymore. There is a small laugh line near my mouth that doesn’t go away anymore when I am not smiling. I definitely can’t lose weight as easily as I used to. Traiterous strands of my mousy brown hair are turning gray already—genetics that I blame on my Mexican grandmother—so I dye my hair to a level 6 brunette. Sounds like I turned 30 recently! In my cynical moments, I consider my 20’s a total wash, but the hindsight and lessons learned just might be worth it.  1. ‘No’ is a complete sentence. 2. You don’t OWE anybody anything. Doesn’t matter who they are. 3. I finally understand what God says about being powerless over our own sin. Nuff said. 4. Truth is always, Always, ALWAYS your friend, no matter how painful it might be. 5. Forcing your own truth onto someone else can result in disaster. 6. Giving love to get love is not really love at all. 7. Criticism, judgment and general bad behavior covered in love, isn’t love either. 8. My cousin Renee...

Once upon a time, there was a happy little dog named Joy. She discovered a  nearby tree  that provided hours of entertainment. It seemed, when she ran in a circle around the tree, the end of her leash was always within a step or two. If she could just run a  tad  faster, she might catch it. She never did... It became her daily challenge, "Must catch the end of my leash!" Until one day, her tree was buried deep in the snow. Undeterred, she found a nearby telephone pole that made a fine substitute. When the snow melted, she was again reunited with her beloved tree. And then, one day as she sprinted towards her tree, anticipating the fun and excitement she would soon experience chasing her leash around it, she was greeted with...mulch. Crestfallen and dismayed, she sniffed the ground, hoping for her tree to reappear some how, some way. And just when I thought the saga of the tree was over...Joy noticed a street sign sticking up from the ground. Yep. You just can't ...

I've been fortunate to become involved with the charity organization,  Sing for Hope . One program they're responsible for, is Hospital outreach. Volunteers visit patient's rooms, and conduct a personal, bedside performances. In addition, a few times each year, they hold a Healing Arts concert where all patients and hospital employees are invited to attend.  I was asked to play a short jazz set in one such concert at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. It was a beautiful space for a concert and I had a wonderful time meeting other very talented performers. This is a video of "Summertime." Enjoy! ~~~ Memorable moments from bedside performances: A Dose of Song A Gift of Song

Skype is one way to cope with the long distance that makes me long for my nieces and nephews. Eddie and I made a "Skype date" with my 2 nephews, Ethan and Zach. Eddie just came home from work and I insisted that he stay in his Park Ranger uniform because I was sure the boys would get a kick out of it. Little Zach was joyful as ever, flying off the couch in his Spiderman pajamas and Super Man cape. He giggled when we put our dog Joy in front of the camera, and showed us how he can shoot web out of his wrist. But Ethan, a few years older, was not in such a happy mood. He sat glumly in front of the computer wearing a blue firefighter's jacket, bottom lip out.  "What's wrong Ethan?" I asked. "I'm having a bad day." He replied.  Eddie and I tried our best to cheer him up. We made funny faces, sang goofy songs, I even hit Eddie with a pillow (which did get him to smile a little). Then suddenly I noticed something on his jacket. "Ethan," ...

Hallelujah! The angels sang when Eddie opened a special package that came in the mail today...his diploma! He jokes that it only took him 13 years and 3 different schools to get his degree. While Eddie is my little genius (like, a for real genius), seven years of active duty Army makes it difficult to finish an academic program. Throw in Eddie's super natural distain for homework, and it all makes a little more sense. There were a few occasions when he and I were so overwhelmed with work, he needed a little bit of help with his homework. Once, I did almost an entire assignment for him and since my sister was visiting at the time, she helped me. We had to make some sort of plasma membrane thingy out of food...I don't even know what most of it was, but we got an A!!! (Kinda reminds me of a science fair project I did in 5th grade, but whatever.) So today's post is dedicated to Eddie, for all his hard work and dedication. He has something that can never be taken away and h...

While I was growing up, my dad began his own  construction company . It really started to flourish when I was in elementary school, and I truly believed my dad was famous. After all, we had hats, jackets, even beer coozies with the Daugherty Construction logo on it. And I still remember hearing the catchy jingle from the TV commercial that had me convinced we were celebrities, "Daugherty construction...builders you can depend on." At one point, he developed and built homes for practically an entire neighborhood in Lincoln, Nebraska. And because several new streets were constructed, my dad got to name them. Three of the streets were named after his 3 daughters: Regina, Mary, and Erica (my first name is Mary, though I go by my middle, and 'Elizabeth Street' was already taken). I've always been pretty proud of having my own street name and proud of my dad's company. It's been years since I've driven by "my" street, but my mom took pictures rece...