Once when I was a star-struck teenager, I dreamed of singing one of my favorite show tunes in front of an orchestra. I stood in my bedroom lip syncing along with the CD to an imaginary concert hall filled with adoring fans. Years later, I did sing that very show tune with a local symphony orchestra to a receptive audience. Only after the performance did I realize the beautiful gift I had been given. Looking back, I can see that many things happened for me that I had dreamed o

Life is beautiful—or so they say on coffee cups and t-shirts. But the world we live in, no matter how many saints, prophets, and miracles have graced the pages of history, is filled with darkness as well as light; storms as well sunshine. No matter how many times I try to see only the light and keep my thoughts to ones of pure love, I still encounter daily proof of the darkness that seems to be an inescapable part of the human experience. Sometimes the pain of it makes it ha

I often find myself speaking of God when all I really intended was a casual everyday talk. My life, in ways both obvious and unseen,...

A glass of chardonnay can be just about anything a wine lover could want. Depending on where it's sourced, it can be lean, crisp and...

Laughter. Easy conversation. Little footsteps scampering about. Giggles and shouts. Kitchen drawers opening and closing. These were...

This past winter while charged with the responsibility of watering my mother's plants while my parents were away for a month (a dangerous...