Teacher, Inspiration, Friend

I wrote about Frankie here. I was honored to organize his 82nd birthday party back in 1997. I am deeply humbled, extraordinarily honored, and profoundly grateful to have called him my friend for the past 20 years.

God speed, Frankie. A one, a two, you know what to do...

Thankful Tuesday

Some things are just too good to wait for Thursday to roll around. This is one of those things:

My SO's most recent PET scan was clean!! There is currently no evidence of cancer or cancerous activity!!!

Despite the fact that rain is actually physically falling outside, it seems like a very sunny day from where I'm sitting!

Thankful Thursday

Things I'm grateful for this week:

• Thursday -- only one day left until the weekend, yay!!
  


• Pandora -- I know, I'm late to the party. I've actually known about pandora.com for a while, but until a recent upgrade to our computers/network at the office, we couldn't get to or use it. Now that we can, I've had it playing in the background nearly every day. Of course, I've been grooving to lots of old favorites, but the best thing is the new-to-me songs or artists I've discovered when it's given me things that are similar in nature to those songs I told it I like. If you aren't already using it, check it out!!
  


• Spring flowers -- Between the cherry blossoms & the magnolia blooms, DC is pretty much busting at the seams. Add in the daffodils and tulips blooming in my front yard, and it's pretty hard not to smile or not to be in a good mood.
  


• Getting a major vote of confidence from the higher-ups at work. Even better was being able to back up that vote of confidence by taking the ball & running with it/finishing the project within the time frame in which it was needed. Something like that is always nice, but it's especially satisfying given the current economy. Every little bit of extra job security is a good thing as far as I'm concerned!
  


• My foster puppy FINALLY being out of heat. She was scheduled to be spayed so she could move on to her permanent home, but came into heat just before, which meant the surgery had to be postponed. She's now out of heat (and acting/feeling more like herself again), which means that a) we can reschedule the surgery, and b) I can take her out for walks again. Being able to get her adequate exercise will certainly help evenings be calmer around my household until she moves on to her forever home!!!
  


• Good friends who have rallied around me these past couple of weeks as I've had to deal with a difficult person and the resulting drama said person likes to cause. While such things are just a part of life & we all have to deal with them from time to time, it's great to know I've got people who have my back and make such unpleasantness more bearable.

How bout you? What are you thankful for today? (Thanks to Tib for the super-fly, retro-inspired new graphic.)

Thankful Thursday

It's been a while, so I'm long overdue for a Thankful Thursday post. I'm going to keep it short & sweet. Right now, I'm thankful for:

• Health -- it really is so precious.
• Friends
• Being able to be there for those friends and for the confidence/trust they put into me in allowing me the opportunity to be there for them

Golly Gee!!

Tiburon had a fun meme -- ask for a letter & once she assigns you one, list 10 things you like that start with that letter. I decided I'd play along and she assigned me the letter "G". So here, in random order, are 10 things I like that start with the letter G:

1. Going places -- I love to travel. It's been a while since I've gone somewhere new and I'm itching to go exploring. Ireland, Croatia and Italy are the places that are really intriguing me currently, but I'm open to lots of different places and ideas.

2. Getting organized -- something I'm working on & desperately need to do more of.

3. Griffin -- my 22-month old nephew. He's developing quite a good sense of humor and it's a lot of fun to be around him and to watch him grow/develop.

4. Cary Grant -- The characters he played in the old movies are just about my perfect man: smooth, sophisticated, intelligent, with a wicked sense of humor and a dazzling wit. He also trained as an acrobat prior to acting, so there is an extra "something" in his movements that step his performance up to a different level. See The Philadelphia Story or North by Northwest or Bringing Up Baby to see what I mean.

which brings me to

5. George Clooney -- I've already admitted to his being a guilty pleasure of mine. After this little exchange between him and his father earlier this week here in DC, I'd have to say he's about approaching my Kryptonite.

6. Games -- I'm a big time games and puzzle person.

7. Gargoyles -- especially those with a sense of humor. If you ever come to Washington, DC, I highly recommend visiting the National Cathedral. One side of the building has more traditional gargoyles & grotesques, but the other side steps out of the box, so to speak. There are alligators, elephants, cats, dogs, etc., as well as a construction worker whistling at the girls who attend the all-girls school right next to the cathedral. There's also a Darth Vader.
8. Gourmet Chocolate -- I'm not above a Reeses Peanut Butter cup or the equivalent, but when I have the opportunity to indulge in some fine Belgian or Swiss chocolate, I pretty much never turn it down.

9. Good friends -- for they make this ride worthwhile.

10. Google Reader -- the ultimate tool for keeping up on those blogs I like to read.

Anyone else want to play along? If so, just let me know in the comments and I'll assign you a letter.

Goodnight Sweet Prince

There are lots of things I really like about being involved in a social dance community. One of those things is that you get opportunities to meet & become friends with people that you might not run into in any other part of your life. Unlike taking say jazz or tap or ballet classes, when you go out to a social dance, there's often a broad cross-section of the general society at large. I love that!!

One way this shows up is across age groups. Especially with swing dancing. Since swing hit its first heyday in the 1930s and 1940s, there are some "originals" out there still cutting the rug. Joe & Delores were 2 such "originals" that we have been lucky enough to meet and become friends with thanks to dancing. Old enough to be my parents & married for 50+ years, when I'd see them dance, it was clear I was seeing a happy relationship and a good marriage at work -- partners in every sense of the word.

Delores and I aren't too different in height and have similar face shapes and the same could be said for Joe & my dance partner. They danced primarily a not-often-seen-nowadays form of swing that was what they learned in their neighborhoods growing up & my partner and I can do that form of dance, too. Given those 2 facts, on more than one occasion, we got cast as the younger version of them -- they'd start dancing & reminiscing and (cue the dream music and sepia tones) and voila, we'd take over from there as them 40 years earlier. It was a good effect & we were always happy to work with them. Even more than that, we just loved to see them show up at one of our dances or a dance we went to -- Delores' smile could light up the room & Joe was ever the gentleman. Who wouldn't like seeing friends and getting the chance to hang out with/catch up with just plain ol' "good people"?

So, it was quite a surprise when Delores called over the weekend to tell us that Joe passed away late last week. He hadn't been sick at all; in fact, they'd gone out dancing just a few days before. Without warning, he collapsed & just like that, he was gone.

Abraham Lincoln once said:

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Joe was blessed enough to have both.

So, in the words of Shakespeare:

Good Night Sweet Prince. A flock of angels sing thee to thy rest.