Enjoy Every (F**king) Sandwich!

In memory of my dear brother Don and on this Memorial Day, to all who have given their lives to serve their country. There is no such thing as an unwounded soldier and the blood of heroes never dies. "Enjoy Every Sandwich" has become my new mantra after reading a book of the same name on a flight from NYC to Hamburg this past March 13th.

I am reflecting on Lee Lipsenthal's book "Enjoy Every Sandwich" now as I lay sleepless in Norway. My body is insisting that it's only 9pm when in European reality, it is in fact 3am. That, plus the heavy heart that comes from today being a year to the day that my beautiful brother Don lost his life to cancer. His last words to me were that he "just wanted to sleep for a while." That he did.

A gal named Amy Lipsenthal, who's been coming to my shows for a while, approached me after a recent show to say she had been moved by the stories of the loss of my sister and brother. She went on to tell me that she'd just lost her brother to cancer as well. She also told me that her brother, Lee Lipsenthal, had written a book during his final short fight. Lee was given a 10% chance to live just one year and he made it two years. Amy then gave me her brother's book and I promised to read it. Even though my carry on bag was way overloaded, I had to honor my promise and in the last moment before my airport taxi came, I jammed the book into my carry on. I spent the 9 hour flight immersed in this book laughing, crying, cheering and jotting down (as Lee suggests,) 3 to 5 things I am grateful for. A well-known and prestigious doctor, Lee shares his fate without sentimentality but with an emboldened look at death and how meaningful it is for life. He talks about taking his son on college interviews (days after getting the news with his son unaware,) realizing he won't likely see him graduate. He cries watching his daughter with her fiancée, knowing he won't meet his grandchildren. On a daily basis, he rejects his wife's recommended soup diet and her push for him to stop living in order to avoid dying. Prior to Lee's diagnoses he was a healer himself and used meditation and compassion as his premise for helping others as a medical doctor. When faced with his own mortality he accepts his fate. Not without grief, but certainly without a lot of fear, thanks to his practice of mediation on wisdom and compassion - what Buddhists call the 'two wings of the bird.'

Lee reminds us through every chapter to "enjoy every sandwich" and to be grateful for 3 things a day. I had to laugh because it is that simple - until someone cuts you off in a line, steals your parking space, etc. And it's that simple until someone you love is dying. However, it still IS that simple. A great teacher once said "change your mind you change your world." Ha! (ok, easier said than done.) I have had incredible adventures touring all over Europe and the US this past year and while I still carry a heavy heart for my brother Don's recent passing, I am always reminded of his and my sister Donna's dream of a career in music and am then washed over with gratitude that because of all of you, I get to keep living this shared dream. It's not the glamorous career I fantasized about when I was a little girl, but rather a life of sleepless nights, insane travel, bad hotels, friends moving on, missing out on family gatherings, crying often, eating too little, and rarely ever getting a "sick day!" But then there's YOU and the inspiration you give, the energy I feed off of, and the creation of music inside our own little "Church of Love," where we celebrate peace and joy and stomp and sweat together every night for a couple of hours!

In these hours, I am fortunate enough to meet people like Amy Lipsenthal, who gave me the gift of her brother's powerful book. I get to meet people whom I would have otherwise probably never known, and this alone has been a powerful game changer for me and my outlook on life and more importantly, death. All of you are what keeps me rollin' on. We will all die. We will all lose someone we love. Why not just enjoy every sandwich now? (Ok, tomorrow f*ck the salad, I'm going for a decadent panini!) :-) I am so grateful to all of you for welcoming me into your worlds, your hearts, your cultures and for sharing your personal experiences with me, often times after the show when I am supposed to just sign CD's and my tour manager wants to kill me! :-) You guys are My Sandwich! So let's rock and roll and bite the shit out of each other! Tomorrow, I have another day off and am going horseback riding through the Swedish forest with Piero, Walter and Jon. Then I will see my friends in Oslo for our SOLD OUT show! Now, these are some damn tasty sandwiches to enjoy and I look forward to sharing them with all of you as we meet along the road of our lives. Again, thank you for your powerful and profound support this past year. With Love, Hugs, Kisses and Big Big Bites! Dana

P.S. As I write tonight from Sweden, I am reminded to include an apropos poem. "In the middle of life, it so happens that death comes and measures a man. That visit is soon forgotten and life goes on, but the suit continues to be quietly sown." -Tomas Tranströmer Swedish Poet from his book "17 Poems" written in 1954