Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Neale Donald Walsch

There are rehearsals to schedule and songs to nail down.  I have been summoned!

For years. I have tried to make beautiful music with Bobby Moody and Moment’s Notice.   Slowly but surely we’re connecting and having a blast.  I jammed with them over the holidays, and almost got the chance to be with them for a fundraiser for a dometic violence prevention organization.

Well good things are happening now.  Moment’s Notice regularly performs at the Irregardless Cafe in Raleigh.  I’ve never been there to hear them, but it’s my impression that they begin with mellow, jazzy tunes and heat things up later in the evening.  I know that’s typically the way things go down, but I didn’t know there was ever dancing at the Irregardless.  There is!

Your girl CAN move, and I know some songs that make people want to get up on their feet.  We just need to COORDINATE!

I need only go to the band’s website to get a list of the upbeat songs that they perform.  I’ll print the lyrics, get the music on my I-pod and start my homework.

They’ve made me so very happy. I’m about to go on a ride that is guaranteed to be a thrill. I KNOW these guys.  That’s just how they roll.  This IS living!!!!

This morning I returned to the Durham VA Medical center to sing to some of the sick and wounded hospitalized soldiers.

Again, this is my way of showing these brave men and women that I am deeply grateful for their sacrifices.  Many of them face trying days of illness and therapy.

It looked to me like there were more patients in the cafeteria area this time around.   It took me about 15 minutes to set up my sound equipment, and then:  Showtime!

My song choices were more varied this time around, and I would quickly see that the former soldiers liked it.

Some of them began to smile and sing right along with me when I sang Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together , and Smokey Robinson’s Ooh Baby Baby. That didn’t happen during my first visit.

I worked the whole room, touching hands and singing directly to as many veterans as I could.  One volunteer motioned to me and whispered about a patient near one of the walls who was blind and loved music.  I made a point of holding his hand and getting him to move to the beat of the music.

It was all so much fun.  I talked between the songs and made them laugh– I danced to some of the songs, and made them laugh. What a joy!

I get that many of these men and women have no family or friends and that they are far from home, but I just have to say I am the one who feels thankful and grateful for the opportunity to have direct contact with THEM .

After my show, I took some pictures with the veterans… I shook hands.. and one kind gentleman soldier even kissed my hand.  They all had such kind things to say about my performance.

Listen, I am already thinking about April.  That’s when I return to the VA Hospital to perform. I am already planning a new song list that will hopefully make them feel happy and special.

Perhaps more than that, though– I want them to see– to really see– that I care.  Deeply.