January 2006

Everyone knows that time goes fast and that with each passing year it goes faster. No one tries to tell this to children because it is a concept that they simply cannot grasp. When I was a child, summer vacation lasted a lifetime. Now that I am technically middle-aged (as a friend recently pointed out), time has turned childish, constantly engaged in a game of "catch me if you can."

For me, 2005 has been a year unlike any other. It has taken me on a ride of personal discovery and while perhaps not a roller coaster, it has definitely been a fast ride full of so many lessons that I probably didn't catch them all. I learned a few things I would rather not have, but on a whole it was a wonderful year. I just can't believe it's already over.

2006. It seems like yesterday that we were all waiting with baited breath for the calamity that was going to strike when the clock turned 2000. The Holidays are over (I did finally take down my decorations) and the long stretch of winter is here. I'm a Minnesota girl born in the dead of winter, and I will admit to loving moonlight walks in the snow and the look of trees flocked with snow and ice, but I don't really take part in winter. I go downhill skiing, but other than that I wait… for spring. The best thing about a new year and the confinement of winter is that it forces me to avoid my favorite pastime, procrastination, and get back to work planting all the seeds for the new crop. (I'm not sure why I'm channeling Andy Rooney, but it feels right.)

2006 is a real beginning. I am already at work on several projects. It is far too early to talk about them in any real way and there is a lot of work to be done, but the goals are in sight. For a goal oriented person, that is half the battle. I need a finish line; otherwise I run in circles or I just… procrastinate. I can tell you that the projects involve new CDs (yes, more than one) and a possible return to the theatrical stage. I know this is a tease, but I simply can't say more. These projects are all in their infant stages. It's really a fun time because there are so many possibilities, so many directions that I might take. I don't feel hemmed in by anything other than the fact that I am middle-aged. Give me an Advil and a good push-up bra and I can conquer the world!

Trail MIX was a labor of love and I hope you enjoy our efforts. I am really proud of it, proud of all the people who worked on it and still amazed that "work" could be so much fun. On a sad note, one of its creators, Jamie Roberts, passed away before it was completed. Jamie, because I can't tell you in person, you were such a fine man and we all miss you. I'm glad I got to know you.

On the concert front, I have been having a great time performing the songs from BY MYSELF. I will be mixing things up again now and putting some old favorites back into the show. It seems I miss them as much as many of you. I am also looking forward to many more shows with my friend, Michael Feinstein, several of which will take me out of the frozen north and down to warmer climates where I will be able to play some more of my bad golf game. (Is it sheer arrogance that makes me think I can be good at this game?) This duets show has been a hoot. Just fun, fun, and more fun. Being alone in the spotlight is an amazing feeling, don't get me wrong, but it is really a lot more fun to share it with someone.

Sharing with someone is really the key to ultimate happiness. As another writer put it, "We need a witness to our lives." It's so true. A wondrous sight is that much more so when you can turn to someone you care about and say, "Did you see that?" I feel surrounded by family and love, and that is a gift more precious than anything. I continue to work the hardest at balancing a healthy family life while trying to work just enough to keep the ship afloat. Sometimes it gets rocked. Let me just tell you that performing and working late on the weekends often makes it hard to get up to the 7:00 a.m. alarm. I'm not sure some mornings if I didn't butter Jake's homework and put his toast in his school folder. But somehow I get him on the bus. I think he has only had to wake me up twice. And if I have forgotten to put lunch money in his pocket, he has a line of credit at the school. The bus driver has seen every pair of pajamas that I own, but I get him on that bus and that is the most important part. My life is now about busses — always being there to meet the bus and driving my own.

Everyone has a bus. As 2006 rolls by, I wish you success with yours. I have to go now. The phone is ringing and I think it's Andy Rooney.

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