Searching for Direction & Purpose in Life's Sea of Opportunities
Back when I was dancing, my life was hyper-organized. It had to be. I was working full-time and between training with Kurt and practicing on my own, I was dancing twenty hours a week. During my dancing career, each weekend day I prepared double-batches for dinner, measuring and freezing up the leftovers. Quickly I ended… Continue reading Do What Works
Yom Kippur was last week. This was the 14th year in which I have honored the holiday by reflecting on how far I’ve come and where I want to be. It is an intensely meaningful experience for me. While it is not traditional, to me it honors the tradition and marks the day as holy.… Continue reading How Far I’ve Come
I'm big on patting myself on the back, especially when it is for something important to me. I have lost ten pounds since the beginning of June! I was only a couple of fine lines on the scale away from being 20 pounds above my dance training weight. That, and the fact that my usable wardrobe… Continue reading Bragging Time
Recently I met up with Kurt, and he reminded me of what is probably my all time best case of my brain operating differently than most. It was back when we were dancing, and we were working on choreography for our jive routine (think REALLY fast swing dancing). At one point we ended up in a… Continue reading Shouldering the Possibilities
As I was writing my "What I Learned from Dance" post, I came the meme of little girls at the ballet bar, most facing the correct direction, one hanging upside down off the barre. While being that rebel never appealed to my rule-loving heart, I did see myself in that picture. I was the one… Continue reading Hurting My Brain
Five years ago today I suffered the injury that ended my dancing career. I remember the training session well. Kurt and I weren't meeting that day; I went to the studio by myself to practice. I was going through my special playlist of two songs for each of the 10 dances. Once the playlist was over,… Continue reading What I learned from dance
A few months ago I stumbled across an article, "Sell Your Crap, Pay Off Your Debt, And Do What You Love! This Makes It All Possible!" This is definitely a philosophy I live by. It reminded me so much of how I took my first steps as a competitive dancer. When I had my initial training… Continue reading Sell Crap, Do What You Love
Last December I got a wild hare and decided that I wanted to try something new, and that something new was race walking. DH2U had put the idea into my head many months before. I dismissed it at the time. I can't even remember why now. I really knew nothing about race walking except for… Continue reading Race Walking
I was a little girl during the 1970s, the age of Women's Liberation. I remember the feminist anthems being played on the radio, although I was too young to understand their context and often their lyrics. One day I was playing at a friend's house and singing along to "I am Woman" on the radio:… Continue reading Invisible
One advantage to maintaining friendships with people whom I went to high school with is that they have been able to see me blossom over the years. The disadvantage is that they remember me from high school. Was anyone really their best during those years? One of my friends (the one who was my moral… Continue reading Stand Up Straight
