"Be open to your dreams, people. Embrace that distant shore. Because our mortal journey is over all too soon."


So mused radio announcer Chris Stevens, in a 1992 episode of Northern Exposure.

Hello Stranger

"Hello Stranger"
By Ginger Foutley

Written by Emily Kapnek

Hello stranger
You came just in time
I look for your face in a crowd or in line

Hello stranger
Not a moment too soon
See- that old picture is fading in the drawer of my room

Now toys have gone lost
Baby teeth have come loose
There were accidents involving stitches
spilled juice
Report cards were shown
And one time I got sick
But it's nothing I couldn't catch you up on real quick

Hello stranger
I saved you a place
And it hardly seems strange
Now that I've seen your face

And She Was Gone

"And She Was Gone"
By Ginger Foutley from the season 3 episode of According to Ginger

Written by Emily Kapnek

She chose to walk alone
Though others wondered why
Refused to look before her,
Kept eyes cast upwards,Towards the sky.

She didn't have companions
No need for earthly things.
Only wanted freedom,
From what she felt were
Puppet strings.

She longed to be a bird.
That she might fly away.
She pitied every blade of grass
For planted they would stay.

She longed to be a flame,
That brightly danced alone.
Felt jealous of the steam
That made the air its only home.

Some say she wished too hard.
Some say she wished too long.
But we awoke one autumn day
To find that she was gone.

The trees, they say stood witness.
The sky refused to tell.
But someone who had seen it said
The story played out well.

She spread her arms out wide.
Breathed in the break of dawn.
She just let go of all she held...

And then she was gone.