Grateful

I am very happy tonight because Honey ate her food! She had been disinterested yesterday due to the antibiotics for Lyme Disease. We had rehearsal last night so when we got home at one am she was off schedule. This morning we were coaxing her with our home cooked Hills recipe kidney diet prescribed by our beloved vet of thirty years, Dr. Peter Belinsky. Apparently Chocolate Labs are prone to kidney disease aggravated by Lyme Disease.

Last week I found out what my high school friends have been up to all these years. It's fascinating to discover many of us are doing exactly what we loved back then; writing, directing, acting, painting, playing music. Vivian Schiller is head of NPR! David Warren is director in LA for Desperate Housewives, Walton Ford is a very famous artist in museums and galleries and collections around the world. Eve Sicular has two thriving Klezmer bands in Manhattan. These are all friends from grade school and high school. It's so exciting to see how they have blossomed over 30 years. I am so proud of them. Reconnecting with childhood friends has been one of the highlights of my year.

So many of my childhood friends suffered outrageous abuse. How is it that we did not end up committing crimes of rage and end up in prison? I am extraordinarily lucky that I have had the courage to look at my upbringing over many decades and continue to heal through writing, painting, and performing music. Now I make my life about what I want it to be!! I wanted to be a singing and dancing actress (and rockette) in 4th grade. I am closer to that than ever before! I love giving back, celebrating life by using my gifts.

Playing bari sax and singing are the best medicines for asthmatic lungs but I still have to take my inhaler a few times daily (albuterol) and low doses of prednisone to counter the inflammation.