Miracles Do Happen.

Not long ago, a friend sent along a chain letter that, among other things, asked if I'd ever seen a miracle. I wrote back saying that I had not.

I spoke too soon. At the time I got that chain letter, I hadn't listened to Susan Boyle's debut CD. I have now, and if Boyle isn't a miracle personified, I don't know what one could be.

You must be familiar with Susan Boyle by now; it's been almost exactly a year since she appeared on the UK's Britain's Got Talent TV show. Boyle, 48, frumpy and totally without any apparent style, walked on stage and blew the audience away with her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream.

I don't care that her subsequent album was number one in sales worldwide, or that millions watched her initial performance on YouTube. If nobody else but her neighbors ever heard Susan Boyle sing, she would still be a miracle in my book.

Listen to her voice, damn it. You'd swear she was turning 30, not nearing 50. She can sing high, low, up down, sideways -- any way, any range she wants. Listen to her version of Cry Me A River and you'd think you were listening to one of the great vocalists of the 1950's.... just add in some tape hiss or pops and snaps from a vinyl record, and it would be perfect. Amazing Grace? Boyle knocks it out of the park. She even puts a new spin on the Boyce & Hart pop trifle, Daydream Believer.

Listen to her voice. Pray her new found success doesn't hurt her; that people will not take advantage of a simple woman with an amazing gift. After all, miracles don't happen every day.