Uneventful but full of delight

I had a very uneventful walk today. Other than the birch trees marked with a large orange X on Oakdale, nothing out of the ordinary. One time I heard a rooster crow on Lullwater. But that was in the morning. I've never heard it again. Hmmmm. It was near the same place where I found the book entitled "I Can Dance." Sometimes it's good to remember eventful things on uneventful days.

I Can Dance

After spending the past two days doing the huckabuck in my studio and crashing at a semi-reasonable hour, I awoke and went for my usual 4 mile walk. About halfway through the walk I discovered a stack of books on a trash heap. Laying on top of the stack was a little book entitled "I Can Dance." Now is that magical or what? But there's more to the story.

This incident took me back to my childhood and a very sad story but a very happy ending. When I was a little girl, I had the little girl dream of being a ballet dancer. I knew that I would have to take ballet classes. I asked my mom if I could take lessons and she replied a firm "No" and then went on to say that in order for me to take lessons I would have to go to the largest nearby town, Fayetteville, NC. Her reason: "They don't allow colored children" in the class in my own hometown, Southern Pines, NC. I was devastated. Colored meant nothing to me and I decided that I would prove to my parents that I should be allowed to take dance. So, I went to the library and found a book, just like the one that I found on the street. It was illustrated with pretty little girls doing all the ballet steps. I learned all the basic ones.

I would twirl and bow before my mom, dancing to the music that my dad played on his radio show on Sunday mornings--classical music on WEEB.

"See Ma, I can dance", I would say.

"But you still can't take dance over town and I'm not driving to Fayetteville," she would snap, obviously annoyed. I never lost the dream of being a ballerina but it became obvious after a while that I was too old to do ballet. Oh well, life has its disappointments.

However, when I was in Australia in 1994, I camped out with a group of Aboriginal women at an Oasis in the desert somewhere near the Strezlecki Track. One woman, Nora, took us deep in the bush for a ceremony that had to do with "women's business." I sat among the elders tapping rocks against rocks just as they did and felt very happy to be included in the ceremony. All of a sudden, Nora came forward and took my hand and pulled me to my feet. "Do this", she said, as she moved her feet, arms and body. I aped her moves and we danced. For a very long time, we danced.

I was overwhelmed. I later told her my ballet story and in between tears and sobs I said,"All my life, I wanted to dance ballet, a dance that is over 400 years old. But today I danced a dance that represents over 40,000 years of continuous culture. Thank you for this gift!"

By the way, I also saw a man that looked like Picasso walking down Oxford Road with his two graying dogs and another man who resembled Diego Rivera. What a morning!

Wishes

I made lots of wishes on yesterday, which is why I didn't blog. One (the most important one) came true. It was about balance and letting go. I have a tendency to think that I can make things happen even though the universe says no. I even get angry about it. In the end, I wind up being angry and out of focus. I really hate that. Sometimes it takes days, weeks, months before I can pull myself together. Such was the case with my wish (prayer) for balance.

The other wishes that I made are being worked on. They involve material things. Interestingly enough what threw me out of balance in the first place was that I could not have something that I wanted. In the end, I had to give up and realize that the thing that I wanted was not for me. The universe sent a better option. I'm back to wishing again but this time, I am ready to move in another direction if need be. Now that's balance!