I grew up the third of eight siblings in a jumble of piano lessons, PBS documentaries and paper plates. We had our own milk dispenser. We lived in an old brick house with a bright red carpet in a small university town that was either mercilessly hot or just plain freezing. I babysat by serenading fidgety siblings with the scratchy songs I heard on my blue transister radio out of WLS Chicago. Searching for a more receptive audience I took the stage at my high school talent show and discovered that nothing compared to the feeling of a quiet room and a microphone. I wanted more of that.

College took me to the south and then the northeast, far from my midwestern roots. I snuck off to perform at local venues, craving the intense connection brought by singing a good story song to people seemingly so different from myself. Grad school brought me to Nashville where I sang backup vocals, jingles and songwriter demos on the side, including duets with the up-and coming star Alan Jackson. After three years juggling music and “real” jobs, I married a handsome adventurous man who shared my dream of building a family. Within a year we moved overseas and I thought my singing days were over.

We returned four years later with three young boys and twins on the way. I wondered why being home with kids had to feel so isolated. Shouldn’t this be more fun? I imagined what I would say if I had one friend sipping coffee at my kitchen table.

For the first time in my life I began writing songs. I couldn’t help it. There was so much to say about trying to love a busy man, raise a houseful of kids and have a laugh at the same time. I released my first collection of songs, “What I Wanted to Say”(1997), wondering if anyone out there felt like I did. I found out I was not alone after all. As my family grew, I released four more albums telling tales of my life as a young wife, “Ordinary Time” (2000), then as a mother of eight in a bit over her head, ”Lighten Up” (2003) then as a woman pregnant in her forties, “ A New Springtime”(2006), finally as a mother reluctantly watching her children leave the nest “Everything Changes” (2010).

Now I am a Grandma about to release my sixth collection, “Old Wives Tales,” songs conveying some of the forgotten truths about men and women and the arc of our lives together.

I write about the life I know, from something as simple as getting through a trip to the grocery store with a bunch of kids to something as difficult as watching a son deploy to Afghanistan. I want to tell others that sacrifice is not stupidity or victimization. It is noble. It is love.