I remember back in the day when I was in college...1990... I heard this song by a young singer, Lalah Hathaway, called Baby Don't Cry. I loved that song. It came out around the time I noticed this guy on campus. We'd see each other and stare at each other while we walked and left the others view. Baby Don't Cry became a soundtrack of sorts... That one song. A soundtrack to the beginnings of a quick and intense love affair. There was something about her voice. Or was it just the song? ... I can't remember. Maybe it was something in the voice and in that song. So fast forward 20 something years. And I hear that voice again... Lalah's voice again. I've heard it over the years, and I may have liked a song or two. But then recently while searching YouTube, looking for or listening to something else, I happen upon Lalah Hathaway singing Anita Baker's Angel. And I've been.... I've been... I don't know what the word is... I've been opened up... my heartspace... has been opened up wide. I love music. I love music that moves me. The arrangement of the piece, the melody, the feeling of it all. Can I close my eyes and journey within? If I am going to love it, I must be able to take a journey within. See beautiful imagery, feel words and emotions that are attempting to escape from my heart. And with those words I can paint a beautiful picture. And there are a few songs that I have discovered that put me in that space. And for that I feel like I've been blessed by the gods. Inspiration can come from any place, any thing, any person. It just depends on what we are looking for. Which eyes are we seeing with? Some days it feels like inspiration is hard to come by. Over a 20 year period, I think that my heart has been equally closed and open... I want it to remain open..... I can't guarantee that it will but knowing what I know now. It has a good chance of staying opened. And if there is a need to close the heartspace, I now know that I can leave a little something in the doorway to hold it open. Can't be sealed up again. I find it interesting that the same artist's voice is relevant and meaningful in my music and love life over the past 20 years. There is something special about that voice...