Gift To Yourself

My mother had six siblings, two sisters and four brothers. Her sister Ruth and her brother George were born blind. The two blind children went to the Maryland School for the Blind and then on to regular high schools where they excelled. They were like one of the first handicapped children to go to a sighted school as it was called.
They both had wonderful jobs and married spouses who had their sight. My aunt Ruth learned to cook, keep a clean home, and she was a fantastic knitter. She knitted all her dresses and many coats and they were of different yarn colors and were full of intricate knitting patterns. People who met her could not believe that a sightless lady could knit like that. George was a medical secretary for the well known doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The respected doctors always requested that George do their transcription.These two relatives of mine did not let their disabilities take away from their lives. They did volunteer work for organizations and were loved by their relatives and friends and their spouses. My brother and I adored Uncle George and we saw him often since he lived in Baltimore. Aunt Ruth lived in New York City where she went to the Broadway plays every month. She sat there and loved to go to the theater. She saw Richard Burton live in a Broadway play and wrote him a note how she adored him and could not see him. He wrote her back how proud he was she enjoyed the play.

Many seniors who go dancing cannot dance the way they did when perhaps they were younger. Some still go and sit there and maybe dance once or twice during the afternoon or evening. They still enjoy being there and socializing; getting out is a big thing in their day. One lady I know could not dance at all because of some orthopedic problems. She would come with her husband and he would dance with some other ladies and she sat there smiling and happy just to be in that environment.

An acquaintance of mine used to get up every morning and make a list of the doctors she was going to that day. One day it would be the podiatrist (that was ok because she did do some ballroom dancing and needed her feet to be in good shape.) The next day it was the dermatologist because she had a sore on her back. The next day it would be the internist because she had some aches and pains. The next day it was the orthopedic doctor because her knees hurt. She made the rounds of all the doctors.
She got to know the secretaries at these doctor’s offices very well and made sure she kept in good speaking friendships with them so she could call and insert herself into an appointment when she wanted it. One day she woke up and said to herself, no doctors today. Today I will go and do some ballroom dancing. I will take a lesson, I will look at a pair of new ballroom dance shoes, and I will practice with my husband in the family room. I will not go to a doctor this week.

That was quite a new method of living for her. No doctors, no secretaries, no driving to various offices. The only driving she did that week was for her dancing activities. She got excellent exercise; her mind did not think about illness and you KNOW WHAT? She felt physically good all that week. She decided she would frequent the doctor offices only when and if she really needed it. She would not go there to be reassured that everything was ok when in her heart she knew it was fine.

Ballroom dancing is like a good drug. It stimulates your mind; it exercises your feet, arms and neck. It enhances your good thoughts and it raises your esteem in your own mind. You are not sick, you need no doctors today, and you can and are surviving at this senior passage of time. Ballroom dancing is a stimulant that is good for your soul and keeps your mind active. Even if you go and sometimes sit out some or all dances, just going takes good courage. You are special and you do not need a medical person to tell you that everything is FINE. You know yourself that you are a good person and if you are feeling well enough to go out and dance or do dance activities, you are a golden senior, not a senile senior. This is the best gift you can give to yourself.

Go to Nordstroms when they are having their half yearly sale. You can get some very nice reduced clothing and now online they offer 30 percent off on a lot of these high priced skirts and dresses and blouses. The one I just saw was a nice chiffon midi skirt, not to the ankles, not to the knees, just the right length to go dancing in. I was trying to get it online because they had it for 30 percent off. Every time, I got to ready to check out, it would not give me the 30 off. So after hollering at the computer and the Nordstrom web page, I was ready to give up. Finally, I decided to call in and when I got a live person, she said that particular skirt was nothing off.

So I waited to today, called up there and got another person and she said the same thing. I said no thank you.

Then tonight, I got an email from Nordstroms, that on Monday, the sale would be for everything, no exclusions, so here I tried for the 3rd time. Lo and behold, it accepted my typing in everything in the right slot, and up comes, that today it was 1/3 off which was better than 30 off.

So now, I await my new chiffon skirt, waiting for its arrival, waiting until I can go to a dance, waiting for my new shots in my aching knees and waiting for a dance to appear near where I now live.

Waiting is sometimes fine and I figure out, by February, I shall be ready for my lace chiffon skirt and I found a matching blouse and a dance scheduled sometime in February and a gold pair of flat dance shoes found in a closet and my hair done all fancy, my feet feeling quite ready for some prancing around a strange dance floor I have never been to and me all psyched up to the song I could have danced all night and see if I can remember all my sexy moves and my swinging happenings and wow, I would now be back to ballroom dancing and not having done any for about 5 or 6 years.

I will uplift myself physically, I will gift myself of this wonderful thing which was missing for 5 or 6 years and I will be me again, 5 or 6 years advanced in age. This is nice, this is my accomplishment, my desire happening and most of all, I know that I can do what I have aspired to for 5 or 6 years.

The winds can be blowing, the rain can be pouring, but I will not feel either. I will go in to the new dance studio and dance like I never have been away 5 or 6 years.