|
So What? Nothing Can Deter Us
Elita Sohmer Clayman
Can you believe it is now January 2009 and thank God we are
here to live it. When I was thirteen years old, mom was
about to turn forty the next day May the 8th. I thought
forty was extremely old and I worried would mom turn into a
mean and strict mommie because forty was surely old to a
thirteen year old kid. The day came and went and mom was the
same sweet and good mommie she was the day before.
So forty was old then and now the seventies are still young
to me. My friend Virginia became a grandmother at the age of
seventy two and half (her words) six and half years ago. She
said to me that she was the oldest first time grandmother in
Pikesville where we live and I said so what. You are that
and that is wonderful at whatever age it occurs. I have a
new physical therapist helping me to stand straighter and
walk easier (after our horrible auto accident this past
June, where a man was texting and ran a red light and hit us
really hard- car and Jerry and I.) The physical therapist
was checking me over and I mentioned that I am knock-kneed
(technically called genu valgum) and she said so what?
She at age thirty four is herself knock-kneed and her doctor
told her because of that not to run daily for her exercise.
She said to him I will and she does and very successfully.
So our medical people do not always know how to tell us what
not to or to do and to be right.
Some people believe that they can never learn to ballroom
dance successfully because they are too old now or
knock-kneed like me or maybe not hear too well or even wear
thick glasses. Everyone can learn to ballroom dance and do
it well if only they really want to learn and be superb
doing it. I have seen in my dance lifetime career so many
people who would seem unsuitable to dance. I saw a lovely
couple who met at the dance studio who were physically
almost unattractive together when they danced. The reason
being he was a man of a fully extended belly and many inches
taller than she, who was short and kind of plump.
They met there, she was a divorced mom of several children,
he had never married and they clicked when they danced. They
wound up marrying and he became an instant dad and grand
pop. They excelled in their lessons together and competed as
a couple and won medals. When they danced, they were like
velvet, smooth and attractive and when you watched them, you
thought them stunning. You never noticed his extended belly
or that she was so much shorter than him.
They were golden in their movements and platinum in their
performances. They were what one tries to be when starting
out to dance. They did not let their unusual height
difference dissuade them from achieving their goal. They
became very well known in their community and encouraged
people to dance. They even hosted out of town dancers coming
to the studio by having them stay at their home overnight at
no cost. They transported these people and hosted them with
great hospitality. They were what we call real menches
(people of worth to other people). They were and probably
still are good examples of dear souls
So everyone can go and dance at any age and the starting
period does not have to be early.. It can be in the forties
as we did, the fifties, the sixties and even seventies. One
fan of my columns started at age seventy-nine and a half due
to reading one of my articles encouraging everyone to dance.
It is now four or five years later and dancing is the love
of her life.
Shakespeare said ‘those whose beauty gives them the power to
hurt others but refuse to, then those are the ones who
rightly inherit heaven’s blessings and keep nature’s
treasures from being wasted.’ We do not want to waste
nature’s treasures to us and learning to ballroom dance is
definitely valuable jewel.
We should all tap our potential in anything we have desired
to do regardless of our now age. We are at a peak time in
our life and if finances are good or even not so great in
these trying times and we can spare some money to spend on
our self for great gratification, then we should attempt to
do so. We cannot always keep thinking of the future and
monetary needs then (though that is extremely important too)
but we should enjoy life now as long as we are healthy and
able. I am not saying to spend and not think of the future
health needs but we can try to maybe cut down on other
unnecessary items and spend that money on some fun things.
I have a friend Sheila who spends lots of money on purses
that cost four hundred dollars or blouses that cost two
hundred dollars etc. She does not really go any place where
those very impressively cost items would show her off. She
just has them and wears them to work. She once said she
works even though her husband is retired so she can have
these costly apparel items. She eats out in expensive
restaurants where a baked potato costs eight dollars and
that same potato costs thirty five cents in the supermarket.
She will eat at a dinner that winds up on the check for over
one hundred fifty dollars and I always say I can be filled
up on a thirty dollar meal of nice and clean food just as
well as the costly dinner with the expensive baked potato.
We would rather put our money into something tangible like
for home furnishings or electronics or a vacation or
ballroom dancing. Then we have something to show for it
rather than a full belly like Sheila. A full belly is over
within a day or so and the only thing you have to show for
it is acid reflux, a tummy ache or some added weight.
When you ballroom dance you have learned a skill that is not
only excellent for your mind, your feet, your arms, your
soles, your soul and your brain. You will scare away
Alzheimer’s possibly and your mental status will be full.
We can encourage others to go and at least try to dance at
any age and we can inherit heaven’s blessings because we
will be content in knowing we have accomplished a new feat
with our feet and our mind will be richer for the
experience. I do not need a four hundred dollar purse to
carry my reading glasses or my makeup in because my thirty
dollar or less purse will still hold the same items. The
items in my mind are attempting to execute the steps of the
dance and my abdomen is emptier because I did not eat that
eight dollar baked potato to fill me up.
The knock-knees that I truly did not know I had until about
six years ago when during a physical yearly exam and the
doctor said ‘you really are knock- kneed’ I said what? They
are still working and dancing.
So they did not deter me from winning over the years fifty
eight trophies and medals. To the two doctors, mine and the
physical therapist’s one, as she said to me “so what”.
Knock-kneed did not deter me or does not deter her, her name
is Temma and we both are stronger regardless of what the
medical people assert. We are inheriting heaven’s blessings,
me who can dance with it and she who can run miles with it.
Her miles and my steps are bigger and better than any
doctor’s diagnosis. My diagnosis is for you all to reap
heaven’s blessings and go out and bring to fruition that
what you want.
Do it now and do it soon and you will be thrilled at what
you can procure.
To modify Shakespeare a bit, I say YOU have the power to
change nature and to reap all blessings you deserve. Go out
and ballroom dance or anything else you think you cannot do.
Mom was the same dear person at age forty that a little kid
thought would be altered overnight. You are a qualified and
wonderful person that you always were and age should not
transform the fact. Age is making you more precious and
special. You are steady, regular and stable. You still have
heaven’s blessings.
Always Keep On Dancing
January 2009
You can email Elita at elitajerrydancing@verizon.net
|
