Today we were sitting at our computers in the room that serves as both our bedroom and our office. We spend the vast majority of any given day here among the same white walls, exiting only to feed the pets, dash to the store, grab a beer or - now that summer has returned to the East Valley - go for a brief walk around this pleasant, suburban neighborhood.

About 1:00 in the afternoon, we left our chairs and went to gaze out the window, drawn by a sudden, intense wind that seemed to come out of nowhere. The sky was clear; no dust storm lingered on the horizon. The wind bent the palm trees and tortured the shrubbery. It flung debris all over the place, with no hint of where it had come from or where it was going. No sooner did it arrive, than it was gone.

This brief downburst did little damage. It did serve as a wake-up call that no matter how calm things may seem, they can change at any moment.

This isn’t news. What we often forget is that we can cause change, even choose it, and sometimes that’s exactly what we need to do. If we don’t make choices of our own, life will make them for us. We need to learn that life is right now; not tomorrow. We need to live each moment.

We could keep feeding you cliches, but we’d rather show you that yes, these things can be done. You can make choices that change your life in ways you can’t begin to fathom.

Read this issue. You’ll find stories of people who took risks - both small and large - that lead to love. You’ll learn how to live on (literally) a song. And you’ll get some hints on how to let go of the amorphous fear that threatens to grip us all. We hope you’ll find a smile or two, and maybe the motivation to take some risks of your own. You may be amazed at the results.