(Listen to this song while you read, listening inspired this post.)

Even before you are born your path begins to unfold and your story begins. As we write that story, we walk from moment to moment gathering scraps of magic and if we are lucky, we find joy. Joy that can teach us to pause and sit in a moment for the time we need to be there. If we are especially lucky, we find joy from the tiny pieces of a soul sent out in their song and we are blessed to breathe them in…

Please, allow me to introduce you to, Malena Smith. Her debut EP, 27 in Maine, comes out this fall, and I encourage you to give her music some of your moments, precious as they are, it’s worth it.

Malena is not new to singing but this will be her first solo release.  She has a tremendously diverse range of experience, from sharing the stage with Michael Bublé, to singing with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. You will hear that rich experience in each of the tracks on her EP.  Each song will breathe a different piece of the magic she has gathered along the way. Her voice is the boon that I needed just now.

It is alarming sometimes how well the universe knows what I need, and I needed to know who Malena Smith is. Even after ignoring an email from her public relations folks for a while. When I decided to listen, I was struck with incredible gratitude in having been given this opportunity to learn about Malena’s work. She is tapping into the magic, and if these are just the first bits… I’m all in. I can’t wait to buy a ticket to see her sing when she comes through the great Pacific Northwest.

Malena’s voice carries her power, and her message of living in the moment. Every track has a different piece of Malena’s spirit but the title track, 27 in Maine (The Ride) struck me at the center of what I needed… today, in this moment.

Knowing when to let a beautiful moment go and move on is very hard for me. I have always struggled letting moments find their end. With great sorrow and fighting I have learned that if I do not fly when it is time, not only will I find disappointment, but I may cause others to find that as well.

A life can be forty years or a hundred, it can also be just a day. We have innumerous ways to parcel up the tiny little pieces of our lives, probably just so we can count and see how far we have come regardless of how fast it goes, yet it just goes faster and faster. The only thing I have found that helps to slow the spin is to mash my face as hard as I can into the moment I need to be mashing my face into. It could be a two-minute conversation in my checkout line or a chat with an old friend. Being present is the only way to circle the chaos that screams around us. Do not let the screaming take your voice or your calm, put some Malena Smith in your ears, give yourself some joy.

I do not have a special line into what Malena thought about when she wrote this chorus, but for me this spoke of embracing every second, finding the thing you need to learn from, is it this person, this song, or is it that book your reading…

I can think of many times that I was faced with a decision that if I had blinked, I may have chosen right instead of left or blue instead of beige or whatever… There are so many times I could have said no to a big leap and just stayed where I was, holding onto a moment. But I took a lot of leaps, and some fell flat but some were the best ever.

I did ask that incredibly beautiful woman with the very long, very dark hair to dance….

What a ride.

Every moment you encounter could be one that presents you a choice that changes the rest of your life. You may be holding on to where you are just because at some point it was very sweet, or you may not know anything else. You may just be terrified of what lies ahead. But time won’t wait, so don’t close your eyes, it may be scary, but it also may be beautiful…

Don’t ignore that email from Karissa….

There is such power in this verse… some of my greatest joys are finding ways back to the places where I had stashed souvenirs and songs. It is in those places that I find pieces of Rusty that I need to learn from. My life is filled to overflowing with kind words or memories and each of them had a part in helping me finding the ride that has brought me to this moment, to this keyboard while Malena sings, a magical soul with so many more tiny pieces to send.

This verse is exciting and frightening all at once… but beautiful.  I can feel the excitement of meeting a new part of oneself, I have felt that. I have also felt the ripple of fear that I have only so many times left around this beautiful world. I am so grateful that I am about to complete my sixty-fifth trip, and I have had the best ride. I am by no means done yet, but I will not be silly and say I don’t think about how many trips I have left. I have found that it can always be exciting if you just mash your face into whatever moment, you are in the midst of. Yes, I am repeating myself, it bears repeating.

Enjoy it, savor it and maybe even devour it…. take it all in and then find your way to the next one.

I remember as a kid I would look so forward to a trip or outing and when they came I never wanted them to end. I carried that practice well into adulthood and only in the last decade or so have I learned to relish an adventure but also relish the coming home and being in that place with that one.  Joy will teach us how to pause and sit in a moment, before it floats away to stir smiles in other places. Time moves so fast, but we get the choice of whether we are moved by it or we ride with it…

Malena, in my heart of hearts, I wish you so many moments that will bring you joy in the knowledge that this moment was made just for you. You have deep and ancient power, and your music is from that place. I’ll be one of the adoring fans waiting for the fluttering pieces of your music to breathe life into me.

Listening, learning and growing…