Polish The Stars

In 1978 to 1984, there was a television series called Fantasy Island and starred the handsome actor Ricardo Montalban. People of all walks of life came to the island to live out their fantasies. When they arrived from the plane, they were announced by these words which became a well know saying. It was “the plane, the plane” given in an accented voice by the actor playing the part.

Every one of us has had or still has fantasies. Fantasies of maybe hitting the Lotto, of getting a better job that we are suited for, of going on a fantastic vacation, on winning first in a hobby event etc.

My now senior fantasy of is to go back to my beloved dancing, maybe in 2017.

I took out the special ballroom dance shoes we wear (with suede soles) which keeps us planted on the wooden dance floors, so we do not slip as we do the intricate steps and dusted them off. Perhaps, we will not remember the steps so easily, since we have not danced for six years. Dancing is like riding a bike; you really never forget the original actions. Your mind tells your feet what to do and your feet should obey. When I first started dancing in 1977, I and everyone who learns to dance, constantly looks at your feet. When you are told by the teacher, do not look, you do not believe him or her. How can I dance if I cannot look at my feet you say?

You learn very quickly, that is how it is done. On You Tube there is a short segment of a 94 year old woman named Matilda Klein who comes out with her teacher at a dance competition in a solo performance, the two of them. She comes out pushing a walker with him holding onto her arm, she has a net on her head and a jacket on and he dances around her and takes off her net from her hair, throws her jacket off, takes the walker to the side where the audience is sitting. Lo and behold, she stands up straight and dances like she is a young girl. They do the dance called the Quickstep and she is marvelous.

Here in on tonight’s news, they show a lady who is 109 years old. People are living longer now days and doing things that were never heard of fifty years ago. When mom was working for the State of Maryland, the mandatory retirement age was seventy. She wanted to work several more years and she would have still been productive; the rules would not allow it. Of course, the boss stayed on to many years later than age seventy. There are many senators who are way over seventy. Ronald Reagan was president at the age of over seventy. Hillary Clinton is almost 70 and Donald Trump is 70 now. Seventy is not old now.

A young man wrote a comment at the end of one of these articles on a Patch, that he wished I was his grandmother. I wrote him back that he can be my email grandson. I guess he figures at his young age of probably twenty something, that an old lady like me is pretty awesome. Another young person Shelby Stein wrote me that I am an awesome old woman after reading another article of mine. They are cute sentiments and I am proud to receive them. Awesome is my favorite word now.

I like to read unusual vanity license plates. My own car had the word Dancing on it.When I first wanted to get the plate, I was advised by the Motor Vehicle Department that the word dancing was taken, but I could have Dancin-no g on the end. That was available, so I had it for many years. When I inquired again several years later, they told me Dancing was available and it had been mine for about twenty-one years. When I gave my son my car with the Dancing on the plate, he quickly changed it to a regular number. People would ask him, do you dance? He said it is my mom's car.

When a new neighbor moved in about that time, he came over and said “what does dancing mean?” I said proudly at about age 57, that is what I do. I am a dancer. He looked at me and said nice. He himself was about seventy-seven at that time. Age is not a barrier to what we can accomplish now, what with modern exercises, we are told to attempt things every day and pills to take for some aches and even physical therapy sessions for when we get in an accident, have an operation or just need some help moving around.

A license plate I saw the other day said Sholove. What a nice line. It really is Show Love. I have never seen one like that ever before. Another one I saw said B Inspird. I guess that is Be Inspired. I believe we are limited to 8 letters. Another one I have seen says Good Time. That says it all in those two words.

We should love, we should be inspired and we should try to have good times. Deepak Chopra says “If you want to be happy, make someone else happy.” There are people out there, strangers, acquaintances, family sometimes, who hurt our hearts with things they say. I would rather make someone happy by saying something complimentary, asking about their family, tell them they look nice and even listen to what they are saying and acting and or feeling interest in their lives.

It is the way we reply sometimes as to what the outcome will be. The ninety-four year young dancer came out with the walker, walking so slowly and when she was changed into a standing straight and tall person, hairnet off of her nicely coiffed hair, she became a different person. The neighbor asking me what Dancing meant, I could see in his demeanor, that he thought of me in a different manner. To the two young people who think I am an awesome old lady, their replies exhilarated me into feeling quite awesome. To the customer service representative who told me she had a Coach purse too and loved the two missing tags that I thought I had not received and she was very sympathetic to this question of mine on how to remedy the problem, she made me feel good about buying this expensive purse and not thinking I was a complainer. To the Department of Motor Vehicles lady who thought I was delightful in wanting to show off my hobby with the dancing license plate and offering me the word spelled without the g, that made me feel like a state worker cared about something l loved.

To the young lady and her Mom who said at the tribute today for the sadness about losing her Dad and husband 15 years ago; somebody needs to polish the stars, because he is in Heaven and he was such a wonderful dad and husband, she probably meant he would make the stars shine and sparkle, just like he made their lives.