Back to Dancing

I know it's been a while since my last post, but it has been nonstop activity since then.  This past weekend my friend Jonathan came to town and we decided to attend a ballroom dance Friday night.  Going there was like stepping back in time for me.  Memories from college came flooding back - when I used to spend so much of my time at such events.  I had not ballroom danced since first semester senior year, and I have to say I was a little nervous.

Ballroom dance dress.

Jonathan observed for a while as I danced with other ballroomers who clearly knew what they were doing.  And it was the weirdest sensation - first there was the insecurity.  Realizing in my head that I couldn't remember the steps for my feet.  Feeling shaky on  my feat and looking down - which I never used to do.  Worst was feeling like I was letting my partner down or like I was at his mercy. I was like a paralyzed person learning how to walk again.  And then, after a few turns around the floor, I stopped thinking and over-analyzing.  I stopped looking down and just went with it.  And, miraculously, my feet started to remember of their own accord.  All of a sudden, I was having fun and dancing instead of fretting.


Of course, this whole process had to repeat for every dance (and in ballroom, there are a lot).  The only ones I felt totally comfortable with were jive, salsa and swing.

Game night before Salsa: Jon, Me, Zach, Alissa, Ryan, Jamie, Josh

By the end of the night though, Jonathan and I were quite enjoying ourselves and saying "we really need to get back into this."  He's going to find someplace to go in Raleigh and I will try to make more of an effort here.  Though the fact that ballroom dances are only 2 hrs and are $15 vs. like 4 hours and $5 for a salsa dance....well, that's a deterrent.

Saturday night I held a game night where three of my male Charlotte ONE friends came, and two female friends - Jamie and Alissa - and of course Jonathan and my mother.  We played Taboo and Apples to Apples and really had a raucous good time.  I had to put Zach on 'hand time-out' for gesturing while playing Taboo, but they got me back while describing words like "bossy" by using my name.  After the games we spent about 20 min playing Just Dance 2 on the Wii which was a lot of fun as well as funny.

Dancing w/Cleve

From there we went Salsa dancing at a place Cleve from work told me about.  He was there and it was fun dancing with him since we'd both heard about the others' salsa skills, but never seen them.

When Zach and Josh realized it was a dance and not a club, they peaced out and went to a nearby bar to watch sports.  Ryan and Alissa stayed and tried to learn some moves.  Jamie couldn't make it out.  I explained to Alissa that the reason I paint my toenails red is so if a guy steps on them and they bleed, he won't be able to tell and thus won't freak out.  She thought that was quite amusing.  I call it practical.


By the end of the night, my feet were killing me and I had a blister from my shoes which hasn't happened since I started ballroom dancing in '05.  It was clearly a sign that I needed to resume my favorite pastime with considerably more frequency.


 After church Sunday I sat and nursed my feet and read a book.  Jonathan played the Wii with Mom until he left, and then the family went to a family dinner at the grandparents' house.  My friend Drew was on America's Funniest Home Videos and When Vacations Attack that night so we watched him being attacked my a goose in a kayak and laughed our butts off. Check out this link to share in the amusement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cV4FCwtTEo

Cleve and me at Liberty for the b-day party.

Anyway, this week has had it's own whirl of activities.  It was one of our reporter's birthdays yesterday for example, so we all went out to Liberty restaurant and watched the Carolina vs. Miami game and had a good time in general.  Tonight I'm looking forward to seeing Billy Elliot the musical which I saw in London about this time in '09.  It's so hard to believe it's been two years.  I can still see it all so vividly.  But for the day when I can't...that's why I kept the blog.

Exciting Entertainment

In a time of relatively crappy movies, I have to say, I've been rather impressed lately.  On Friday I went to see True Grit with a work friend (because he said he refused to see Country Strong...yes, I am a girl, I can't help myself).  Anyway, I really wasn't sure how I would feel about 1) a remake and 2) a western.  Not typically my cup of tea.  But wow.  Hailee Steinfeld, who played the 14-year-old girl Mattie, was just ...perfect.  The way she talked sounded a little strange to modern ears, but in place for a girl of both education and 'grit' at the time.  Despite being so young, it becomes absolutely believable that she would trek along with these hardened officers of the law.  It is not cliché or overly sappy.  In fact, it is simply heart felt and actually rather surprising.

On a very different note, I saw Burlesque with a different (female) work friend on Sunday.  It was the second time for me, as it was at the cheap theater, but the first for Jessy.  I thought perhaps I had been somehow overly susceptible to the song-dance routines the first time I saw it, but no, I loved it just as much the second time.  No, it's not an award winner, but it is delightful - especially for we wanna-be singers/dancers.  Having never listened to her music before, I was completely taken aback by Christina Aguilera's voice, not to mention her beauty - since, let's face it, she usually looks rather trashy when you get a glimpse of her on TV.  Cher performed a solo that was practically tear-evoking and probably one of the best solo songs I've ever heard by her.  Not only were they both amazing singers (not that it's a surprise), but their acting was also touching.

I have been listening to the soundtrack and dancing around my room ever since.  So, in my opinion, it was a good weekend of movies.

This weekend will be a weekend of dance.  Friday I have a friend coming in town who used to be the Ballroom Club VP to my Ballroom Club P status at Carolina.  He is looking fwd to dancing together again, so Friday we will go to a ballroom dance and Saturday to a salsa dance.  I'm sooo excited as I haven't been out dancing officially since I got my job!  I've just been tired I guess...

Anyway, we're also going to have a game night on Saturday with my friends and mother (b/c she can't resist a good board game).  I'm quite looking forward to the weekend of plans and excitement.  And now that my persistent cough has finally subsided some, hopefully I'll be rockin' and rollin' by tomorrow night.

Last night my Bible study ladies and I tried to have a pizza/game night.  But when you get 13 girls in a room together - well, pizza happened, but games took a backseat to constant chatter.  Next thing we knew, it'd been three hours and all we'd done was talk!  But, it was a lot of fun.

And on a final entertainment note, I recently got Just Dance 2 for the Wii and it was seriously awesome.  A workout and real dancing from the comfort of your own home - which means ratty sweats as opposed to flashy bling that is required for most dance outings - simply cannot be beat.

How to Feed the Soul

Do you ever have one of those perfect days?  Not because you had the most wonderful date or because you were somewhere exotically cool, but just because the people in your everyday life made you really happy.

That was yesterday for me.  I was slightly down about something and all my friends just...made me smile.  They made me realize how much love I have in my life.  From the simple act of a coworker asking me to walk with him to the cafeteria to the homemade cookies Elizabeth Anne made for our small group meeting at church.  Even Elise, too worried about driving in the ice, skyping into our meeting.  It was just capital (do you like that British use of the word?).

On the way home, I called my best friend/cousin Michael and was just really hoping to catch him in.  We usually talk every two weeks and it had been since before New Year's and that conversation hadn't been long as we'd both been busy at the time.  I was bummed when it went to voice mail, but right after I arrived home, he called back and we talked for over an hour - and even though I'm tired today because I stayed up too late, I'm so happy that we had that chance.  That I got to tell him about all that's been going on with me and he got to tell me about his amazing trip to DC/NYC/Boston.  I loved that we both thought Boston was soooo cool and that we both took pictures of John Winthrop's grave (our ancestor). 

When I was in Boston, I couldn't shake the idea of collective memory - feeling like you have iconic memories that have been passed down to you through many generations which makes you feel like you've been somewhere before when you haven't.  Everywhere I turned I had the strangest feeling of deja vu

or of coming home.  The best part?  When I told Michael, he didn't act like I was crazy.  In fact, said he felt like maybe our kinship to Bostonians is what made the city and its people welcome us in a way that other city's did not.  And the logical segue from there was, "When is the next Clan of the Cave Bear book coming out?"  A series that I first got into (and got the idea of collective memory from) and then made Michael a fan of - and we are praying the series is wrapped up before the author, who's in her 80s, dies.


There was nothing extraordinary about our conversation - it was just a perfect one.  Two best friends, sharing excitement, humor and concern with perfect balance.  And when I hung up, I felt like I'd just finished the most perfect meal. 

My soul that day had been filled with succulent lamb, healthy greens, buttery rolls and mint chocolate chip ice cream.  It was utterly content.  In fact, it was more than content - it was blissful. 

Today and yesterday I was literally anchored to the house because it snowed - AGAIN!  Two big snows in 2 weeks of each other - this has got to be Armageddon or something.  Charlotte is known for having one biggie a year, and that's about all folks.  Anyhow, Monday I woke up to snow everywhere and was forced to stay home.  Today, I woke up to ice everywhere, and was forced to stay home.  Tomorrow, I'm going to try to make it in once the morning thaw arrives.

The electric throw blanket has been my best friend these last few days and honestly, the warmth of my office is looking quite appealing right now.  Living with a 1) frugal and 2) menopausal mother does not help indoor temperatures.  When we complain of freezing to death, she suggests putting on a coat - indoors - and does not seem to understand the irony of her suggestion.  Thus, best Christmas gift ever - a heated blanket.  Who would've guessed.

Saturday my aunt and cousin flew into town to surprise Grandma and Grandpa at their 67th anniversary celebratory dinner.  When they walked in, Grandma teared up, so the surprise was all worth it. 

They both flew out Sunday (earlier than planned for my aunt due to the approaching storm), but before they left Grandma and Grandpa came over and told us stories at my uncle's house.  I've put the story I wrote about them in the newspaper below, but here is a little detail they forgot to mention when I wrote the article.  Once, when my teenage grandparents were in a fight and broken up for a bit, my grandfather took out my grandma's sister out of spite and, according to Grandma, "taught her how to kiss."  Also, my grandma's sister's date, Johnny, who used to double with Grandma and Grandpa, was apparently about 22 when great-aunt Jeanne first met him - she, on the other hand, was 14!  When her mother caught her "watching the submarines race" (i.e. - making out) in his car one day, she pulled her straight out of that car and forbid her to see him again.

So, now that you have the juicy parts, here's the story that was in Sunday's paper:

An old-fashioned love story

Bert and Bette Carraway celebrate 67 years of marriage.

By: Lauren Bailey

Posted: Sunday, Jan. 09, 2011

Bert and Bette Carraway recently celebrated 67 years of marriage.

Bert and Bette Carraway pose for a wedding photo, Jan. 3, 1944.

I can't resist the innocence and true love you find in old movies, and for years I didn't see that my grandparents were a real-life representation of those films.

On Jan. 3, Bert and Bette Carraway celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary. They aren't actors, but their romance would have been a box-office hit.

It all started in September 1941, when 15-year-old Bette Morton moved with her family to Miami. She and her sister Jeanne were weekend elevator girls at an upscale hotel.

Bert Carraway, 17, worked for his father, who owned an apartment complex. Bert and Bette's paths would not have crossed had it not been for Jeanne.

Jeanne was out walking one day when she saw Bert and his friend Johnny playing tennis. Jeanne liked Johnny, and after a few minutes of talking, had set up a double date: she would go with Johnny, and Bert with Bette.

Bert, already shy by nature, was nervous. When Jeanne told Bette, Bette was embarrassed.
But by the end of the first date, Bert and Bette were falling in love. Bert asked Bette to go steady, and she said yes, breaking her "I-don't-go-steady" rule.

But the big romance almost ended on the second date.

Bert and Johnny were taking the sisters to the beach for a picnic. Who knew a sailboat would nearly ruin everything?

Bette's family had lived all across the U.S. Her dad was a mechanic who couldn't stay in one place longer than nine months, yet they'd never lived near a beach and had never seen a sailboat.
When two young men on a sailboat pulled up to the shore near the boys and their dates, the sisters ran into the waves, laughing and pointing.

"Would you girls like a ride?" one of the men asked. Bette and Jeanne immediately accepted and left their dates.

After a while, Bette realized that might not have been a smart move. She asked the men to bring them back. The men reluctantly agreed and the girls returned to their angry dates.
Bert had decided he would break up with Bette as soon as they were alone. She knew she had to do some quick talking.

"I can't remember what all I said now," said Bette, recalling the event 70 years ago. "But I know it was good."

Bert forgave her and they continued to date for about a year, until Bette's family moved to Oregon.
Despite the distance, the two didn't forget each other. They sent letters nearly every day, and when Bette graduated high school at 17, she told her parents she would take a bus to Miami and stay in one of the Carraway family apartments to be near Bert.

Instead, the whole family moved back to Florida.

Bette had just turned 18 when she and Bert married. He had just joined the Navy and wore a crisp blue-and-white uniform to the wedding; she was in a light green suit.

It was Jan. 3, 1944; World War II was raging. Bert left the next day to serve on a ship off the Florida coast. He got a couple days leave when his first son, Bob, was born. He then was transferred to the South Pacific.

Bert wrote Bette constantly and told her about the close calls the ship experienced. Once, a typhoon destroyed nearly every ship at sea, but Bert's ended up safely on the beach. When the war ended, Bert got a law degree and became a captain. He and Bette were stationed around the world, having their fourth child in Morocco.

During the Vietnam War he served as a military judge in Saigon and sent Bette voice recordings that captured the sounds of bombs exploding in the background.

Despite the danger, Bert remained positive, promising Bette he'd see her soon. One week after he returned home, the court building where he worked was bombed.

"It was God. He knew I couldn't do without him," Bette said of Bert's safe return.

Things around the Carraway household have quieted since.

"It's hard to believe I used to wash cloth diapers and sew the kids' clothes by hand. I barely had time to worry about Bert, I was so busy," Bette said with a chuckle.

After Bert retired, they moved to Key West, Fla., and then back to Miami. In 1999 they followed their children to Charlotte, moving into south Charlotte's Providence Plantation.

"Family means everything to us. We hated to leave Florida, but it wasn't the same without our kids and grandkids," Bette said.

The couple recently moved into the Cypress retirement community on Park Road - still healthy and still together.

As their now-grown granddaughter, I marvel at them. They've become the example of what I will strive for in marriage.

They still hold hands on the way to dinner. They still kiss goodbye and say, "I love you." They hate to be away from each other for more than a couple of hours.

And, after all these years, that's saying something.

A Campfire Story

It was 35 degrees out and pitch dark.  At 23 I was attempting to build my first campfire – ever – by the light of a key chain flashlight.  My mother’s idea of camping had been a Holiday Inn Express and my brother only survived six months of Boy Scouts before dropping that for the more interesting sport of computer gaming, by which he now makes his living.  So, campfire-building wasn’t really in my skill set. 

Fumbling with the flint and knife I had been assured would create a spark, fingers numb with cold, I happened to glance heavenward.  Perhaps for guidance.  Who knows.  But as soon as I did, my hands stopped struggling.  They lay in motionless deference to what my eyes were witnessing.  I set the useless tools next to the frozen hot dogs (waiting patiently for their campfire), sat back in my chair and through a circular gap in the trees above, took in an array of stars unlike that which I had ever seen before. 

In the middle of Yellowstone National Park, at an isolated campground amidst a vast wilderness, there was and never had been any light pollution.  I realized what I had been missing all these years – how every time I wondered at the stars, I hadn’t been seeing half of what was really there. 

 

I felt suddenly small – like a child who one day finds out the world is so much bigger than his back yard.  Almost like he’s been betrayed to not have realized it before.  And I think, ‘How?  How could the sky around me be so stunningly beautiful and startlingly big and I didn’t realize it until this very moment?’

 

And that’s when I mentally surrendered my campfire building mission.  I threw the hot dogs into the cooler and locked it in the car – I don’t care what the cartoons say, bears are NOT my friends – grabbed a pack of saltine crackers which would makeup my dinner, and wandered down the short path to the river.

Sitting on the bank, I yanked off my sneakers, peeled off my socks and slipped my feat into the water.  Fed by many nearby hot springs, it warmed the ice cubes that were my toes.

I turned off my tiny flashlight, tucked my hands deep into my pockets, and lay back on the soft prairie grass.  It was a moonless night, but far brighter than any I’d seen before.  The stars twinkled off the quiet stream.  Millions upon millions of them.  It was hard to pick out individual constellations, what with every square inch boasting a star I’d never seen before.

This is what they would have seen.  Those ancient ancestors that I sometimes feel pangs of connection to.  They probably crossed this land following a buffalo heard – long ago relatives of the ones that I saw grazing here only hours earlier. 

I turn my head slightly and press my ear to the ground.  I can hear the earth’s heart beat. The echoes of horse hooves and battle cries.  The tears and wailing of a people displaced from a land that they treated as their most treasured provider.  But before that, before a new people with a new “right” way, before disease and starvation and ruin, there were the stars.  Always the stars. 

A mother and father and children, wrapped in buffalo hide, probably stared out the top of a tepee or, like me, lay in the middle of a treeless expanse, and thought “there is more out there.”  They too were probably moved to tears with a sense of overwhelming fullness at the beauty they were witnessing.  It is a somewhat uncomfortable feeling – like being presented with a thousand of the most delectable desserts and knowing you can’t possibly try them all.  It is like trying to fill yourself with something you can’t catch in your hand.  It is a sense that you are a tiny, insignificant, flawed speck on something so much grander and more pristine than you’ve been told. 

It is a humbling feeling – and one that is sorely missed today.  As I lay there, I fully came to grasp what the phrase awe-inspiring means. 

At least an hour had passed before I realized that if I didn’t get in my sleeping bag soon I would probably get frostbitten.  With a sense of sadness, I sat up, wiped my soggy feet on the grass, replaced my socks and shoes, and made my way back to our tent.

My three companions had been asleep for hours.  They had missed it all.  New moon cycles only came once a month.  Tomorrow it would be back, if only by small degrees.

Slipping into our tent, I snuggled down deep into my bag and zipped the door up – yet I couldn’t manage to fully cover the screen patch that gave me the tiniest view of the stars through the trees. 

                 That night, I dreamed of stars and laughing, barefoot children and buffalo. 

Icing on the Cake

Last night I went to a great restaurant with a friend.  It was in Plaza Midwood which is an area I would not normally traverse alone, up some sketch metal stairs, but once inside, Soul was awesome.  It was warm and cozy with an eclectic decor that made it feel very European.  It also probably helped that the wait staff were dressed like urban Londoners who want to look like hippies.  But anyway, it was a treat.

We had bruschetta with fried goat cheese on top to start.  I got a lamb pita with tzatziki sauce and Eric had a sushi which contained white tuna, salmon and avocado wrapped in fried seaweed (I guess they call that tempura?).  Anyway, I NEVER eat sushi, but he insisted I try a bite, and even though my brain was screaming "You're eating raw fish!!!" and thus making me fight a gag reflex, I got it down.  So, it is official: I have tried sushi.  But I have not changed my mind about it. lol

For dessert Eric had espresso ice cream and we split a chocolate cupcake with a creamy icing studded with blueberries and strawberries - it was pretty much amazing.

While we ate, I couldn't help but admire the way Eric appreciates food.  He talks about it the way I would describe a beautiful sight or a perfect book.  I swear, the way  he talked about the sushi as the most wonderful combination to ever enter his mouth, it made me actually want to try it. lol  It was his colorful words, no doubt, that convinced me...But either way, it's just nice to find that sort of appreciation of the simple things.  He did, however, make me feel very picky.  Which I'm not...well, compared to my mother. 

Eric, who is a photographer/videographer also showed me some ways I can manipulate the aperture and iso on my camera to get different qualities in a photo.  I used some of those techniques this morning.

Sunset from my front yard.

I had to wake up about 30 minutes earlier than usual for an 8 a.m. dentist appointment - I thought I had a cavity, but apparently not, since my dentist said my teeth are so perfect they are probably fake (she has a strange sense of humor) - but anyway, because I woke up early, I looked out the window and the sky was unbelievable.  Gorgeous purple, orange and pink hues extended in fluffy ribbons from the skyline up into the dome of the atmosphere.  It was fabulous - and I used my new camera techniques to capture it.

On top of a beautiful morning and good news from the dentist, the icing on the cake was that I'm going to have two front page story's in Sunday's south Charlotte neighbor's section this week - one is the centerpiece about a guy who has worked to recover from a motorcycle accident, and the other is a column I wrote about my grandparents 70-year-long romance (in honor of their 67th wedding anniversary). 

That piece is one I really enjoyed writing and my editor says I may be able to do a semi-regular column about anniversary stories.  Yeah! 

My grandparents on their wedding day in 1944.

So, it is a good day in Lauren Land. 

New Year's Eve and a New Mission

New Year's Eve was so much fun this year.  I met up with Jamie and we got ready, then met Elizabeth Anne, Christina and several of the other girls at EA/Christina's place.  We drove over to Village Tavern together and I immediately saw many familiar faces and started making introductions.  My friend Ryan and his friends joined our table as we ate some of the buffet food and I ran into other friends whom I hadn't seen in a while.  After eating we went into the big outdoor tent and danced...a lot. 

I have a good feeling about 2011.  My network of friends has blossomed and swelled since the same party last year, and as I looked at all the faces around me, I realized what a blessing 2010 was to me.  I found my church, my Life Group girls (now my best friends in Charlotte), saw the US, identified my calling and decided to make it happen...though it made itself happen in a very surprising turn of events when the Charlotte Observer called me out of the blue for a job.  My "mission" on Couchsurfing this year was to "get published."  And in the last 3 months of 2010, my mission was completed.  So I guess now it's time for a new mission...

Mission ideas anyone?  

After getting ready! From left: Me, Chantal, Jessica, Brooke, EA, Christina, Jamie.

With Christina and EA.

Grayson, Me, Jamie, Zach, Jessica in the dance tent.

Back of my dress.