No Limitations High Aspirations

Limitations only exist if you believe they exist. I have written before about my blind Uncle George who did not let his limitations exist, because he truly believed they did not exist. Just because he had no vision and that was from birth; did not mean to him, that he could not do things. He proved it over and over again that he could accomplish wonderful achievements without sight. There are many of us who do believe we are limited because of finances, education, ambition and resources. That does not have to be true. There are ways we can overcome these things that bother us and make us feel we are not adequately endowed with these attributes.By thinking this way about ourselves, we deny our minds the courage to try something new and special that we have thought about doing for many years. As the years progress, we see less and less time to achieve this ‘something of value’ we want. Some of us may have dreamed about taking a nice cruise to a specific destination. Some may want to extend their education and receive a higher degree to enhance our salary at our present job.Some may want to retire earlier and enjoy the benefits of not getting up early to go to the same old job. Others want to try and do something different. Some people want to sky dive. I heard the former president, the elder George Bush said he still wants to sky dive again. He just turned ninety years old. When I went as an observer, reviewer to a competition, I saw in the program book that a lady from Kentucky in the age group of eighty-two and over was scheduled to dance fourteen or more dances with her dance coach.That is a lot of dancing, even for a younger person. I heard she was quite talented and looked lovely in all of her dances. She won many first place awards. She evidently did not feel limited by her advanced age.She felt capable to come all the way from Kentucky to complete this delightful hobby in her life. Bravo to her and to her dancing coach for realizing she could attain her physical stamina to do all these dances and to do well in them. Her name is Mary Ohlmann and her teacher is Alex Loukhnel. What an accomplishment and she feared no limitations. Some of us upon reaching Social Security age begin to think of ourselves as slowing down instead of reaching up for higher ambitions. Others think of themselves as even better than when they were younger, though maybe a bit slower in doing things. They used to advise people who had Arthritis just to take it easy. Now they are advised to exercise, be active and keep on ‘keeping on’. This is what I try to do, though not always successfully. On some days, I may feel slowed down a bit by my aching right knee, other days I am raring to go. So I try to go the middle way and do something everyday that keeps me moving. I spoke to my dancing coach John Dawson from Pikesville who has a studio here. He participated with four of his female students. They vary in ages. They all performed in an excellent manner and received winning places in each of their dance heat as the divisions are called. I told him my new goal is that next year when he brings his ladies to the Pikesville Hilton for the Atlantic Dancesport Challenge run by the Atlantic Ballroom owners Igor and Polina Pilenpenchuk, I want to one of them and true, I will probably be the oldest one at the then age of 82, but I will be the most delighted one to be accomplishing this feat with my feet. My last competition in 1991. Really, it is mind boggling and astonishing to me, if it does occur. I have set my mind to this as of yesterday when he and I talked on the phone for the first time in years.We ceased to stop taking our husband/wife lessons with him or anyone about 10 years ago. I danced with him in a studio showcase in 2002 and that was similar to a dance competition though I only danced before a dance studio audience and you did not compete against anyone else. It was just you and the teacher exhibiting a routine you learned and were performing for fun, attention and to show your knowledge and proficiency in dancing.I loved it and I was of course then in 2002 14 years younger than now. I was sixty-eight then and it is quite a difference in a time span. My knees were not aching then and my spirit was high in accomplishing doing this showcase before my peers all sitting there and watching us dancers.I know next year if and when and I hope that I can perform in a competition, that will be an even larger achievement We can all try to realize and actualize something we want badly. If I do it and not place as high as I would like to, I will still have reached very high heights at this age, time and space. I will be like the older ladies I mentioned in a former article, that danced like I want to do next year, when I saw them in 1982 in Florida. I marveled at them then when I was only a young forty-eight. Here I am ‘ them’ now and ‘them’ I will be, smiling, competent, slim, happy and realize a dream, I have had for many of the last years. The dream was to dance again in a competition as a competitor regardless of my age.There is a saying that states that age is only a number. The number can be as high as you want and yet it still can be a workable time. Golda Meir of Israel was up in years when she was a Prime Minister. Rita Moreno, the actress who is eighty-five, is still active in movies, television and theater. I saw her on a talk show and she is just as vibrant and sassy as she always was. She is a darling of a woman up in years. Angela Lansbury was the star of her own television series when she was getting much older.Betty White just turned ninety and is more active than ever and appearing in television shows still. Cloris Leachman who is eighty-six is still acting and proud of it.Mother Teresa said “if you judge people, you have no time to love them.” So let us not judge people by their ages or their limitations. We should not surmise that because they are a certain age, that they can no longer have desires to go to higher heights in something they want to do. We who are seniors still have aspirations, goals and targets. Baseball and football players are considered almost too old when they reach the late thirties and you hear the sports writers claiming that they are at their peak of playing and are getting too old and should retire. We ordinary people, not sports stars, can still do things and one of them is ballroom dancing. I will be one of those competitors next year in June 2017 dancing with my teacher in different levels of several dances. Even If I am a bit slower moving around the dance floor, I shall do it anyway and I will be proud to have come that far from this dance dream. When I went as a reviewer one Saturday night and to watch the competition as a journalist reporting on it; I realized the depths of my yearning for this again.I will achieve it and I will be triumphant just being there; I will be a winner because I tried and even if I do not win an award, I still will be rewarded in my mind, that I came that far and thus the farness will bring me closer to the goal and my goal was won because I got there. Even without a ribbon or trophy, I will be a winning winner and that is all one can ask at this senior age. A senior who still tries anything different is a first place number one medalist and if I am lucky, I will place in the field of winners, with or without the blue ribbon. The ribbon will be tied around my heart, soul, feet and ego whether it is actually there or not. The ribbon is there either way and the meaning of trying, makes me and anyone else who does this really, the biggest champion of them all. That is my goal and next year, I will write again about this and my readers can be proud of me because I will be so proud of me, as they say I will be bursting my buttons off, meaning that I will feel so big (not fat) and happy to have come back to my dancing. I will feel self satisfied and complete. You all can do that too in whatever field or sport you have the desire to accomplish. Try it and give yourself a year to achieve your goal and come with me and celebrate your delight, happiness and success. You will have no limitations! The sky will be the height you reach. elita sohmer clayman Fairfax Station Patch