I don't always know, with great certainty, what is best for me. And I rarely know what's best for anybody else.

I've spent the past couple of years washing colors that were untrue from the "painting"...the work in progress...that is ME. Some of the stains were washed out against my will. I got used to them, was afraid how dull I'd be without them...perhaps I feared they defined me. I've been blessed to be loved by artists who have brought new color and taught me how to use it, to blend it, to apply it. The dark splotch that has marred my painting is shrinking.

I've got mentors.. artists.. who, even when I didn't want to paint anymore, came and shined light on my painting and pointed out what was good, and encouraged me to keep on. I can hear...see...feel God through them when I am in the dark.

By the time you hear these songs, I probably won't be living in them anymore. I will have moved on, because I wrote them down and let them go. I want to be a painting that tells a story when I grow up...a human story...hopefully a story that ends peacefully and leaves this world a little better than I found it.

There is a believer in me somewhere. No matter what happens, that believer gets up every day, goes to bed at night and dreams, and wakes up and follows that dream again. I'm lucky like that. I hope you are lucky, too.

Thanks for listening.

Hug your kids...or somebody else's kids. Make Peace. Coexist. Recycle. Slow down. Play outside. Breathe. Give Thanks.