Press play

​It was the summer of 79 and my bestie sat, feet tucked beneath her on the couch as her hand rested lightly on the cassette player. "I want you to hear this" she said as she pressed play. And I listened with every fiber of my being, to the song but more to my bestie as she sang along quietly. In that moment as we sought respite from the midday desert heat - a single song repeated - and something deep in my soul awakened. Fast forward a couple years and I'm a zealot for words and music - a decade or two and I crave the story - the novel - a trilogy perhaps before this moment now where I find myself broken and weary - not from life played out - but more from being held hostage by my own inability to press play...
I am saddened by the passing of Olivia as she sang so many songs that are the soundtrack in my heart, but her passing was breath over ashes. There are still songs unsung, stories untold, words uncommitted to paper. Olivia was an inspiration - but I am reminded it was you, Terry Bird and you Laurie Ann Smith and you Susan Guess Burgess and Buffi, you inhabit my words - you are the heros in my stories and you are always in my heart. Press play ladies. PRESS PLAY!