Share your talents

My latest "ah-ha" moment was a couple weeks ago sitting in an area at City Park in Denver where I thought I found a secluded area to strum away on my guitar. I had my headphones on trying to play along to a Lil Wayne song. I may have been there for ten minutes when I realized a group of seniors were gathered within ear shot. Feeling alittle embarrassed because of what I was singing, i decided to play Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. I couldn't believe that within minutes I had 5-8 seniors singing at the top of their lungs "sweet Caroline, oh,oh,oh". They were having so much fun, heck I was having so much fun as I'd rather strum guitar strings than strain my vocal cords trying to sing.  The song ended and they wanted more but unfortunately I didn't know anymore songs that they would know. On that day I finally realized why I decided to pick up the guitar several years ago. It is not to be a YouTube phenom...that's for sure! I will continue to practice and learn more songs suitable to play for seniors so I can play at nursing homes,senior centers,etc. The smile on those ladies faces made my heart sing. GOD gave me a gift which needs to be fine-tuned but a gift nonetheless and I'm so happy i have finally found the right audience with whom to share it with.

On a different note, I'm alittle sad because my journey in Colorado will be coming to an end soon. It was more than just another work assignment to me. I call it my journey because it seemed like everyday I was learning something new about myself through my experiences. Sometimes it takes removing yourself from familiarity and your comfort zone to expose areas that you need to work on and magnify areas in which you thrive.
I am definetly a better person.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy

Fire in the Sky

All around the United States temperatures are higher than usual and Colorado is no different. All I hear from the locals is"this is not the norm...it is unseasonably warm". Colorado has never gone through a stretch of 100 deg weather. This summer is breaking many records and with little rain and
a lot of dry areas, it seemed fires were popping up everywhere.

The end of last month and the beginning of July I had to limit my outdoor activities due to smoke in the air. The fires weren't particularly close to me but with fires in Wyoming and Utah, smoke was bound to make its way to the Denver.

No hikes, no bike rides, no venturing up into the mountains.  I limit my outdoor activities to a couple of hours of golf daily. I'm still enjoying my time in Colorado and have met some great people. With the welcomed rain these last couple of days and "monsoon" season approaching, I have no doubt I will get back to enjoying the great state of Colorado.

My prayers go out to all the families who have lost their homes and I have donated to the cause with hopes that these families will be able to rebuild soon and have somewhere to once again call home.

(all pictures taken from Huntington Post)