I watched part of the 100th concert of Billy Joel's legendary Madison Square Garden Residency last night. He sounded great. His tune My Life had resonated deeply with my teenaged self several decades ago, and it still resonates with the older musician that I am today. I've found out that the expectations placed on elders, especially women, are no less stifling than those placed on teens. At this point in My Life, I'm expected to begin gently fading away into that good night. But the songs I am writing now are some of my best, so why I should stop? Songwriting is my magical, spiritual journey and a way of processing trauma and senselessness that yields something beautiful. And my already-deep singing voice is becoming richer as I age. So, like Billy, I may no longer be able to hit the higher notes, but that's a very small price to pay for the ongoing gift of music. I may not have attained Billy's level of fame and fortune, but when you, my reader-listeners, reach out to let me know that one of my songs means something to you, it's an amazing feeling. May you all have a wonderful spring - and may I be soon able to afford a return to the recording studio!