New Music

I love when people forsake fear to dream big dreams and the stories that follow.

I met Annie Parsons here in blogworld, this place where people share a little of themselves via technology. I don’t remember how I found her site but her writing grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. The more I read, the more I learned about her. She grew up in western Colorado just 25 miles or so from where I grew up. All of the sudden, the world became smaller with the help of the world wide web. She now lives in Nashville.

We’ve never met in person, but for almost 2 years I have read her blog daily. I am inspired by her honesty, vulnerability, humor, and her talent for writing.

Annie is someone who isn’t afraid to dream big. She loaded up her car a few years ago, set out from Seattle and landed in Nashville to follow her dream of writing songs. Without any guarantees, she followed the beat of her heart even though it cost her more than she could have imagined.

For her, the road towards her dream has been tough and there have been times that she questioned if she made a mistake, but out of those struggles comes life, in all its beauty... and some good songs.

This week, Annie released her first EP; a collection of songs that she has written and recorded. Her music is filled with feeling and is easy to relate to.

Listening to her songs this week brought tears to my eyes. I’ve read about her hardships and have felt a bit of what she has gone through. I understand the questioning. I know those things quite well myself.

The difficulty of her journey makes this milestone so much sweeter and I hope that it inspires us all to dream big.

Click on over to hootenannie.com and myspace.com/annieparsonsmusic to learn more about Annie. Read her story and to listen to her tunes.

A Lovely Autumn Day In New England

Every day there is less daylight than the day before.

Every 24 hours winter is closing in a little faster.

Yesterday the deluge pounded without mercy.

But, TODAY there was a reprieve from the inevitable.

I took advantage of it and my soul found warmth on the shores of Newport, RI.

Reacting

“You never know what may be going on in someone’s life.”

That’s what someone said to me when I was bitching about feeling dismissed by a friend.

I hate when I judge too quickly or leap to a conclusion without knowing the full story.

It’s an automatic defense but too often it’s unfounded.

May compassion be my first reaction to harsh words.

Sending Email

Just like the rest of corporate America, I have a work email address. It’s meant for communicating with work people about work stuff. I rarely use it for anything personal and this story is a lesson in why.

Apparently, there are a few people in the corporate email directory that have a name similar to mine because I get emails periodically that are meant for someone else.

I love when this happens.

Most of the time they are boring emails that have to do with some work related issue.

Today however, I got one that I think is worth sharing.

Someone within the company wrote:

“why since u gave me doctor grahams number today he finally called and told me im ovulating hella long hunh im still excited about it though lets just see now if i get pregnant”

Clearly this email wasn’t meant for me.

I giggled.

The lesson: double check your email address before clicking “send”.

Because, now I want to email her back and ask if she’s pregnant.

The Good In Today

No alarm clock

No obligations

A friendly phone call

A brisk walk on the beach

Sunny with a few puffy clouds in the sky

Favorite music

Driving with the sun roof open

Colorful fall foliage

Visiting new towns

Iced Coffee

Chocolate

Being Alive!

In Costume

Last night, I dressed in costume for the 2^nd time in my life.

Yes, it’s weird that I have only done this twice but I’m starting to like it.

The dress I wore in my sisters wedding just 3 weeks ago lived again when I added a cape and transformed into a goth temptress of the macabre.

In little more than an hour, I became someone far removed from the real me. It was fun and it gave me license to try on another identity. When I arrived at the party and people who knew me didn’t recognize me, I felt a sense of accomplishment.

Of course it was all in good fun but while I was painting my fingernails in black, I was reminded of all the masks we wear in life.

We hide behind laughter and we hide behind silence. We hide in maturity and in immaturity. We hide in arrogance and sarcasm and sugary sweetness and all manner of things that we are good at.

The things that are a part of us, that make us who we are, become diminished when we use them as a layer of self-protection. There’s always something to hide behind that will conceal our true self.

Why so much hiding??

If I feel weak or inadequate or that someone may reject me, I might go silent. That way, if those things prove true, if someone does reject me, then I know it’s not the real me they rejected. It was the mime costume they didn’t like.

In the moments that we find ourselves hiding in self-protection, may we remember that being true to who we are, is far more beautiful than any costume we might create.

090909

Today’s date is significant only because I have a bizarre ability to remember dates and this one is easy, breezy and beautiful… just like this CoverGirl. Ha!

Moving on…

Since August was pretty much a blog fail, I need to catch up.

Unexpected Suprises.

Remember that? The theme from the beginning of the year?

I haven’t been good at spotlighting them throughout this year. I think I stopped at #2. However, in the past several weeks, they have popped up, well, unexpectedly.

I went back to my old job. Didn’t see that coming. Same company, same building, same sort of work, different boss. When I walked out of there in January, I shredded the piles of trees that served as evidence of the 2 years I spent documenting business processes. I didn’t think that I would ever use those processes again. Surprise! I am doing exactly that.

A few weeks ago, with the help of the world domination that is Facebook, I found someone that I haven’t seen or spoken to in 17+ years. Now, I know that this is the essence of Facebook. Everyone is reconnecting with people they have lost touch with, but this particular person is someone that I believed I would never speak to again. It just wasn’t likely.at.all.

We have no point of connection. We live thousands of miles apart, we no longer have mutual friends. Life has been lived in the distance of nearly 2 decades. There was no trace. How is it possible to find someone with those odds? Surprise! It happens.

I don’t get it and I can’t explain it but I do appreciate it.

As much as I love to have a plan and know what to expect, there is far more beauty in being caught unawares. The mystery exceeds the expectation.

It doesn’t matter what things look like. It doesn’t matter how impossible something might seem to be. You never know when something or someone that you have written off will return as an unexpected surprise.