“And never, no never, put off your joy…”

My dear friend and mentor Dorothy Satten once said, “Life sends wake-up calls… Don’t miss the alarm!” Over the years as the inevitable alarms have rung—disappointments, sickness, the death of family and friends—the idea of seizing the day has become more poignant. As I stood touching a stone crypt near the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheater at Aspendos, Turkey, I thought about the 3000 years that separated me and the departed soul lying peacefully within. It then occurred to me that it was not eons that separated us, but in fact, a single breath. The title track from Carpe Diem chronicles the precarious relationship we mere mortals have with time, and reminds us to find the joy in every breath.