"The thing that struck me most was … (what happens) when people have what they perceive their purpose to be taken away from them, because we’re all so wrapped up in our public persona. 'Hi, my name’s John. I’m a musician. Hi, my name’s Steve. I’m a pipe fitter. My name’s Bob. I’m an IT guy.' When those things are taken away, what a lot of people seem to feel, as I have in the past, is am I losing my purpose? What am I going to do with myself? … But there’s always that hope in the songs that the real important things come back to us — family and home and, not material possessions, but actual human connections, which is something I think we’re really lacking in society now." - from Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls


There's a lot of truth in this, no matter what artistic path you're on. As writers, we're constantly trying to make sense of things and share those findings with the world. Sometimes it's in hopes of reconnecting people, and sometimes, usually when a small miracle is erupting, it's to locate something within yourself that you've been struggling to find for too long. It's those moments of inspiration and artistic beauty that keeps you going in this world - it's not always a kind place but it is where we are. So, if music and writing and photography and anything else saves a person, then I say go for it. Reach out and hold onto those things that you lost, and pray they come back to you again should you lose your way.

"Life's not the breaths you take, the breathing in and out, that gets you through the day, ain't what it's all about. You might just miss the point if you don't slow down the pace. Life's not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away."--from none other than George Strait

Cupcakes were the last thing that took my breath away - huge, delectable, gorgeously decorated, make-you-wanna-slap-somebody-and-not-feel-bad-about-it cupcakes. They came from a store called Gigi's in Kentucky.

"It won't get any better. Even when he gets older, he'll still embarrass you." --from a patron in a restaurant

A boy about six years old was sitting at a table with two adults, a man and lady, and a young girl about nine. The boy tumbled backwards out of his chair and onto the floor, doing dramatic gestures. Imagine a boy in a plastic, bubble ball, rolling along the floor in a childish haze and you'll know this kid. The lady looked directly at the young girl with a deadpan look on her face, as the boy was being, well, a boy, and said the above quote with no inflection in her voice. And there the boy was, tumbling along, until he found his good sense and sat back in the chair.

"I manage the place but the Lord owns it. We don't own anything."--from a manager at a gym I stopped in

"Everyday ain't been ice cream and cake."--a relative talking about marriage. He's been married for about fifty years. It sounds to me like he might need liquor to make it through the next fifty.

"You and me are gasoline and matches."--from the song Gasoline and Matches by Buddy and Julie Miller, from the season two soundtrack of True Blood

Okay, for some reason, this makes me think of Nicolas Cage, who I have a severe crush on. I know, I know, you're thinking, really?

I love this man. In fact, if I could shrink him, I would, and keep him in the little zipper inside my purse and just look at him from time to time. And smile. I enjoy looking at him. Guarding Tess started my lustful voyage. There is nothing like gazing at a tall, good-looking man in a suit who knows how to be firm with a cantankerous lady, and gentle.

Anyway, I remember this one time (at band camp) - I'm kidding - really, this one time I heard that Cage and Lisa Marie Presley's ex-marriage was tempestuous; that's the way the reporter described it - tempestuous. That makes me think of gasoline and matches. Explosive. So, that's why Cage comes to mind. And maybe because of his new movie The Sorceror's Apprentice. I like that wild look he's sporting. For me, really, with him, his hair makes a difference in my level of attraction. I was over the moon with the movie Ghost Rider...loved, loved, loved the short, dark hair.

I have a friend who thinks he looks like a wounded sparrow. Perhaps he does, a little. But I love that smile, and those shoulders, and that voice. If I could shrink him, I would take very good care of him. He wouldn't even notice he was the size of a bumblebee and living inside my purse until my klunky keys knocked him sideways. We might have a problem then.

"The cold wind swept across the hill, whistling through the headstones that poked from the ground like dozens of crooked baby teeth."--from You Are So Undead To Me by Stacey Jay

I like the analogy of the headstones and baby teeth. Unique. I'm reading this book now, a YA novel. It comes highly recommended and I'm reading it even though I hate zombies. They scare me. If I hear one syllable moans, and see someone who looks just a little, well, dead, toppling toward me, then I'm closing the book. On second thought, that's most people on a Monday morning so it can't be that bad.