Dancing the night away

It was a normal Monday night; I had no one show up for my core strengthening class at 6 p.m. at the Woman’s Club in Pass-a-Grille, so I headed off for the Blue Parrot under the Corey Avenue Bridge. The Tomcats were playing, a 16-piece band made up of members of the Florida Orchestra. The first song caught me and I urged my friend, Jan, to dance with me. It was lovely and we had a great time.

The next song started and I was sitting with my friends when a man came up and said, “Would you like to dance?” I looked at the tall, gray-maned, friendly face and said, “Yes,” immediately. I figured anyone brave enough to ask me to dance deserved a yes.

The moment, the very moment he took my hand I knew I could relax and dance my heart out. With a slight twist to the right I twirled, as strong hands turned me this way and that, always giving me direction, always letting me go as far out, as many twirls, and as many times around as I wanted. He is, without a question, the best dancer I have had the pleasure of dancing with over the years. In fact, I only have five memories of incredible dancers and Jim, as I learned, loved to dance as much as I did.

After we stopped, both breathless and happy, I went over and thanked his wife for letting him give me such a wonderful experience. My only hope is that it happens again sometime because when I drove home, I was in heaven and my feet and body were still dancing…this time to the music on a CD in my car!

Keeping Fit: There is so much to do around here to keep fit and still have fun. I recently had a friend visit from Montana, PJ, who is in good shape. We decided to kayak over to Shell Island, about a 4-mile round trip from my house on Vina del Mar.

Luckily for both of us I have two Hobie Mirage kayaks, 12 ½’ long by 33” wide. But hold on. These are different from other kayaks. In these you sit back and pedal comfortably as you steer your rudder. It’s a lovely experience. Anyway, we meandered over across the channel at the Point of Pass-a-Grille and headed for the beach of Shell Island. As we got close, a boat moved passed us slowly and said, “Watch for the manatee that is around.” And sure enough, there she was, moving slowly, diving, coming up for air, moving a little more. We watched for awhile until she didn’t appear again, so we started walking around the island.

As we came around the Point on the inside, we spotted a whole school of dolphin, babies included, having a rollicking good time playing. After about five minutes they moved on and so did we. As we came back to our kayaks, I spotted a 10” winged Atlantic stingray swimming around a few feet out so I walked into the water, as did PJ, and then we just stood still. To our amazement, the stingray came right over to my toes, wiggled her top lip to test my skin, obviously was not impressed and went immediately five feet away, shuffled her body and buried herself in a second, with only her tail showing.

As we kayaked home, we both enjoyed the views and felt very satisfied that as we stayed fit we were having fun too.

Painting a canvas on the ground: As my dog, Rhino, and I walk around Pass-a-Grille, Corey Avenue or anywhere actually in the world, cigarette butts out number every other type of garbage I pick up. By far. So here’s my challenge to smokers. Pretend that the ground is a canvas and you are painting a picture for the next person, generation or world to enjoy. Does a butt enhance the picture? If you say yes, sad for you. If you say no, then I thank you and ask you to please put your butt where it belongs — in your pocket, purse, jacket, garbage, or ashtray. Every time you throw it on the ground you are saying to everyone who will follow, “I don’t care. I will not be responsible for my butt.” Now if even one out of ten smokers agrees, that will make a difference.

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