This week, I miss singing.  

I miss it on a visceral level. I miss the feeling of a long exhale with a tone and a word on top of it.  I miss the sound of a piano reverberating in my ears  I miss the air inflating my lungs and giving me permission to let forth a huge belt or a little whisper.

Mostly, I just miss expression.

One of the few things they don't tell you about running a business and a household is how much you have to hold back.  Your temper, your true feelings, your needs, your judgements, EVERYTHING must be kept in check and under control.  In order for everybody around you to flourish and feel at peace, you must squelch everything about yourself that might make them feel uncomfortable.

It's enough to make a woman scream...if she could.

Music has always been an outlet for me, a chance to be honest without the scrutiny of others.  Lately, it's fallen to the wayside.  My restaurant and family have required too much of my attention.  But I've noticed only recently that music isn't just a hobby for me.  

It might be the only thing that has kept me sane through the years.

Reader, it dawns on me that a soul simply cannot hold it all in.  We have to express ourselves, through art, through conversation, through exercise, through anything. I have to believe that we are meant to do more on earth than to simply 'hold it together' and die.

I leave you with a picture of my daughter in a state of unbridled joy.  It shouldn't just be the children, our coworkers, and the ones we love who get to feel this way.  All of us should be allowed to express ourselves at our utmost.  We aren't meant to be tamed at all times.  This songwriter is looking forward to a little more time set aside for belting it out with reckless abandon.  I'll see you back here next Monday. -Em