Piano Lessons

Years of piano study taught me about the world before I was old enough to comprehend its size. I also wasn’t aware I was learning lessons which would one day be relevant to life, love and the pursuit, but — looking back — they were plentiful and their truths have stood the test of time. […]

Light.

“In all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.” More TV quotes tonight, the above courtesy of Contact. Beyond its relation to the movie, the first thing this line made me think of is my frequent feeling of sadness and disinterest in the world — thanks to […]

The Key

“To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell.” I watched a documentary this evening about Richard Feynman and the above quote is true — so painfully true. “And so it is with science” is how the quote concludes. Science, yes. And business. And […]

Music therapy.

Brian Crain’s “Song for Sienna” is a tune that moved me to tears the first time I heard it. I think I was listening to a Pandora station when it came on, and whatever I was doing was immediately paused. It’s a simple composition that sounds full of hope and sorrow, triumph and loss, patience […]

Breaking the mold.

I was in Laguna Beach earlier this evening watching a family try to leave Tommy Bahama. I say “try” because their daughter was enamored with the live music. The woman singing and playing guitar was really, really good. The four-year-old thought so, too, because as they made their way to the front door, she stopped […]

Game-changing truth.

It’s a game-changer. We’ve all heard the phrase before. But sometimes it comes down to not trying to change the game, but your game. Nobody reinvents this game. So goes the line in Moneyball. It might be true if you’re talking about the general perception of something. The majority’s perception. What the commonly held belief […]

Azalea Sky

We’ve had the most magnificent sunrises lately. The other day I noticed that the kitchen had a strange pink hue about it. “How odd,” I thought. Odd until I looked outside. It was just after 6am and the sky seemed to be awash with azaleas. Fuchsia clouds popped against a quiet blue sky, a sky still […]

Dog Days

When I was about ten years old, I thought it would be a great idea to take both dogs for a walk at the same time. One was a Lab mix, the other a Samoyed mix. They had been part of the family for a good five to seven years at that time, and I […]

Breathe.

The fact that we get up each day and breathe in and out, generally without difficulty, is one of the best and worst things ever. I remember having the wind kicked out of me in elementary school. The perp, a rude child named Darrell, had a crush of sorts on yours truly — the usual […]

The Puzzle.

So I have a dilemma, but not. I’d radio the problem into Houston, if I could, but it’s not really that, either. A coworker told me today it’s simply more of a puzzle. I thought about this for a while. She’s right. Consider this: everything in our lives is a puzzle. Some are simple, familiar […]