My Two Jerrys and the Impossible Dream

The Two Jerrys In My Life I began these articles on July 19th,2011 for The Patches. At first it was the Cockeysville Hunt Valley Patch, then the Towson Patch and Perry Hall Patch. I once knitted a large king size blanket out of multi colored patch like squares for a decoration piece in my family room. See then, I kind of knew I would be doing other patch work. I wrote for Frederick News Post Community Columns, and for Vibrant Nation. The editor Beth Blakely thought my articles not what the seniors who read them wanted articles to be about. They seemed to like articles on menopause of which I knew nothing about. I went through it with out a sign of all the usual complaints of being hot, being unhappy, sweating or other signs. I could not write on that subject. I am past the stage of trading recipes for dinner. I did all that for 50 years. I need no one to tell me how to put makeup on or would I dare to advise to use some brand name cosmetics. or write a letter to a deceased husband. Mine is still here for 56 years.. I wrote mine encouraging everyone regardless of their NOW age to ballroom dance, to take lessons in an inexpensive group class featured in all local dance studios. I wrote on no matter, what you wanted to do, it is not too late to try now., whether it be tennis, golf, going to theatre plays, to the symphony concerts, senior centers where they have lots of activities. Anything you desire it, do it now.. So I stopped because she tried to shorten or change my words. My words are mine and now I have over 100 emails asking where they are. If they go on Google, she has taken me off when they hit Google and the title appears, they get a message saying they are not there anymore. This is not right. I have copies of them, so they are around for my readers to see. The following is one of them revisited. Beth, you cannot keep a successful, slim, senior, sexy old lady who is keeping on and as one of my fans wrote me in an email,"Elita you are a breath of fresh air, and if I can be like you, when I am 81, I will thank God." I received a lovely note from a Columbia, Maryland Patch reader. Margaret Smith commented on your article "Grow In Your Life As Your Garden Prospers Too" in Elita's Senior World column: “Recent research has shown that ballroom dancing, more than crossword puzzles and Sudoku, helps ward off dementias, like Alzheimer's disease. I personally feel that the uplifting nature of ballroom dancing, along with its exercise and socialization are of great value. Thanks Elita for your article. Margaret Smith Retired Recreation & Parks, Senior Programs “. I started off writing mostly about ballroom dancing and also about turning into a senior citizen. Now I mix the stories with chronicles of my growing up in 1944 as a little girl, a teen in 1947, able to take my first alcoholic drink in 1955 and also to vote then too. I married in 1960, became a first time mom in 1961 and a second time mom in 1965. I lost my Dad in 1964 and my Mom in 1984. I became a great aunt in 1981 and a great, great aunty in 2009. I started writing for a dance magazine in 1990, was eleven years old for the Enoch Pratt Free Library, book reviews of teen books. Some people get high on alcohol, eating sweet desserts, buying lots of clothes, shoes and household niceties and going on vacations. All of the above does give me a high, except I do not drink. I did not even drink at my children’s weddings or my own wedding. The desserts, the clothes, shoes, items for the home and going on vacations; are my past and current joys. Writing is listed in my favorite current , happy, sweet , nice times. When I complete a story, I feel so fulfilled because many times I have related nice narratives of my past. I always thought that maybe I had lived a boring life, but when I relive past times, I realize that they were very interesting days, years, events and happenings. I am cognizant of the facts of young years, teen years, young adult years, middle adult years and now active as a senior. I have been blessed with two children, a nice home, traveling, a car of my own and lots of possessions in my home. What more can one ask of life other than hoping for continued fairly good health and peaceful days? I have four grandchildren, each one unique, darling, smart, beautiful and handsome. I have three grandsons and one granddaughter, so I have both sexes. Next, if I live long enough, I can say I will be a great grandmother. A saying is that retirement is a time to enjoy all the things you never had time to do when you worked. I can be the writer I strive to continue on being. I have my favorite dancing, email pal- Steven Behr, Sr. who encourages me to continue on writing about ballroom dancing and inspiring everyone to do it and to love it. He says I invigorate others and he in turn, emboldens me to write, to be healthy and happy. He is a Wellness Educator in Washington State. He is my email friend, confidant and person of complete faith in body/mind connections in health matters. We have never met. He is surely my buddy. I always quote my favorite saying from my best loved movie, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing and this is it. The hero William Holden says to the heroine Jennifer Jones, upon leaving for the war to do his job as a journalist, “If I do not come back, you and I have not missed, because we have had the many splendored thing.” My life has been bright, shiny, and exceptional and I have not missed anything. One of the components beside family has been On October 12th will be the fifty- eighth anniversary of our first date, a blind date, I hate that term. We hit it off fine the first night and we went to what then was called a night club called Gabriel’s. where there was dancing, food and sometimes a small entertainment from an up and coming comedian or vocalist. We saw a comedian named Jackie Vernon. He was what you would call a dead pan type of personality. His style was he complained about himself, his looks, his personality, his trials with his wife and children. He did not smile, he was funny and he went on many years later to become a fairly successful stage person. Then I was asked to see him, my blind date the next night and we went to a night club called The Mardi Gras, where we saw an up and coming vocalist named Jerry Vale. Jerry had a beautiful voice and I bought recently one of his CD albums of his most popular songs. From those two dates to this 56 years of marriage, two children, four grandchildren and a lovely life. My aunt and uncle were blind, this is the reason I do not like the word blind regarding dates. My favorite song from Jerry Vale’s CD has always been the song he sang that first night of October 13th, 1957. It was called Have You Looked Into Your Heart? I do often and we should all accomplish every day what we can. Look into your heart and remember the good times, the happy days and events and most of all remember.From the play Man Of La Mancha, there is a song called Impossible Dream. We all seem to have had and maybe do now, have an impossible dream; but this can become a possible dream, if we try real hard to accomplish it. Look into your heart and see all your impossible dreams that become real. Jerry Vale sang these songs on his CD's. He is my second Jerry, my first one is my Jerry. elita sohmer clayman J Like Comment Share Comments