From the time that fellow baby boomer Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with Pacreatic Cancer to the time of his death, I found myself searching the internet to find the latest info on his health. I watched the Barbara Walters interview some months ago, and got a few tears in my eyes watching him, and his devoted wife, share. I think the thing that impresses me more than the dancing, which was spectacular, or the movies, most of which I’ve seen, or the attractive physique, is the commitment he had to his wife. What an enduring love that started when both of them were young, she only 15, and he 19. In a sense they grew up together, my heart goes out so to his wife.
Many tributes have been offered, a recent Entertainment magazine that arrived in our mailbox has him on the cover, and article that may be worth reading for a change. ”Dancing with the Stars” did a tribute that I wasn’t aware of that was posted here for a while until it was taken down from youtube for some reason. I liked the video posted below better anyway.
But as I’ve already shared, to me there’s nothing more attractive than a man that is devoted to his wife…and I don’t mean attractive in the sense of being attracted to the man, but being attracted to the way he has lived a very important part of his life.
My hope is that Patrick made peace with God before passing, and my prayers are with his dear wife, and those who love him that have been left behind.
Last week we have quite a shock when my son had a sudden seizure out of the blue, has never had one before, and he’s 27. He lives home with us due to the economy and a job situation, and is uninsured, but had to be taken to the hospital to rule out any serious conditions, such as a brain tumor, etc. After 2 days of tests, they couldn’t find a major cause, so we are waiting to see what time will bring, hopefully it was just on isolated incidence. He doesn’t smoke, drink alcohol at all, or do any drugs, so all of those things have also been ruled out.
I have to admit that this happening to my son was a tougher blow to take than hearing about the sudden death of Michael Jackson because it was so much more personal, not to mention the death of Farrah Fawcett, I’ve been following her progress and had watched her special on television not that long ago.
Had it not been for the emergency and all the running I would have posted some fond memories about both…and plan to do so soon.
My son is doing well so far, by the way, and not having insurance may mean some help, a reduced price on the hospital bill, we’re still waiting to hear about that.
It’s the anniversary of the Beatles unforgettable arrival to America…at least unforgettable to someone my age. I remember so clearly sitting in the Chapel of the private school I was going to, (I feel like I’ve shared this before…Deja Vu?? I’ll have to check.) Anyway, the girls were all abuzz about these guys called the Beatles who were coming to America. They were already popular in England, and one of their songs, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was already a hit here in the USA. That was my first introduction to what would become a phenomena, watching girls faint, cry and scream hysterically on television, so loudly that you couldn’t even hear the music. My own collection of Beatle Cards and crush on Paul McCartney, the “cute Beatle”…reading all the vital statistics about each one of the Beatles on the back of those cards. Listening to their songs on my first Transistor Radio.
Enjoy again the arrival of the Beatles, thanks to the person who contributed this to YouTube, arriving February 7th, 1964 in Kennedy Airport from Heathrow:
Our thoughts and prayers go out to someone who has made MANY a movie, but for most, the greatest accomplishment is, at least should be, the making of a family. I can’t even imagine how painful it must be to lose a child, one who you have had to take care of in special ways because of his special needs, and then have to do so in the spotlight of the press, the media. I will leave the death of John Travolta’s son to the media, and just share a fond memory.
We all know that John Travolta made tons of movies, but the one that hits home personally is one of his early movies, “Saturday Night Fever”, oh, and wasn’t he in “Welcome Back, Kotter”? The TV Show? Yes indeed, sorry for the senior moment, I just googled it, and he was.
Anyway, back to Saturday Night Fever…that was back in the “disco” days….are you “old” enough to remember “discotechs”? When I started dating my Colorado Mountain husband, who had only been in NJ for about a year at the time I met him, he had only been on a couple dates after his move here before I met him, and the movie he took his date to (she was someone I went to HS with) was “Saturday Night Fever”. Now I confess, I have never seen the movie in the theaters, it was later movies by Travolta, at least a few, that I liked…but knowing he had seen it, I had to watch it on TV at least once. You know how it is when you’re first dating someone, and you just HAVE to know all the details of whoever they dated before…it was during those times. Gosh that seems so long ago, and it is! 30+ years!
Here’s the classic clip from the movie for you, enjoy if you like this sort of thing, and even if you don’t, continue to pray for the Travolta family.
This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving, a fairly quiet 4 day weekend, we don’t shop on “Black Friday”, I handle most of that online. We had a break with tradition this year by having dinner at my brother’s home, 12 of us, each household bringing a dish or 2 to share.
But where does “Fiddler on the Roof” (click image for info on the collectors edition) come in? This weekend it was on television, so hubby and I watched it….again. We’ve seen it many times together in our 30 years of marriage, and I remember seeing it in the theaters when I was dating. Today I was reflecting on how my view of the movie has changed through the years. It goes something like this:
When I saw it 30 some years ago on a date, I related to the girls in the movie, with all the romantic notions of a girl or young woman who has not yet met “Mr. Right”, and the date I was with when I saw it wasn’t “Mr. Right” by the way :-).
When my husband and I watched it together as a newly married couple with no children, we had many hopes and dreams. No children, what would it be like to raise children? Would we have daughters or sons? Would my husband be a “rich man” or sing “if I were a rich man”? I’d say right about now he’s singing the latter…but we didn’t have any idea back then, viewed it through eyes of hopes, dreams, expectations.
Watching it with children, hubby and I would look at each other knowingly as we saw the daughters rebel to one degree or another in the movie.
When we watched it this year, with a married daughter, feeling like we still have hopes and dreams, but a lot more memories than we did when we first viewed the movie, we felt empathy with the change the parents were facing, and not always happy changes. We’ve walked through many challenges together as a married couple, and looked at one another and thought “Do I love him/her”, “does she/he love me?”and thankfully can say “Yes, I do”.
What is it that we love most about this movie? The constant dialogue the character Tevye, a role so perfectly suited to the actor, Topol, had with God. He talked to God about everything, from the silliest to the most serious things, no matter what condition he was in, he was not afraid to talk to his God. Oh that we all would feel so free to talk to God, our Father in Heaven. Thanks to what Jesus has done for us, we have that freedom available to us, the thing I’m most thankful for this year.
Today is the anniversary of the passing of Jimmy Hendrix, one of the classic and best at playing the electric guitar. When I think of his music, the song that comes to mind is one that probably comes to the mind of many from my generation, the “Star Spangled Banner” as he played it at Woodstock.
Was I there? No, I was looking ahead to my Senior year in High School, working at a summer camp in New Hampshire at the time. It was the talk of the summer, though, since it wasn’t all that far away and all of us knew someone that was going, we knew about the traffic, and how it was affecting some that were trying to get to camp. But I can’t say I was fully into the culture of the time yet, a bit of that that came into my life later, I’ll have to share about that one day.
Back to Hendrix, it’s a shame that such talent had to be snuffed out due to drug overdose, sad, what a waste, but here’s Hendrix, immortalized on video. First a brief interview, then “The Star Spangled Banner” as only Hendrix could play it…listen for the “bombs bursting in air”…the anti-war (Viet Nam) movement was in full swing at the time, but in another time and place, the song could have considered pretty patriotic.
I love attending a particular auction a few towns away from me, and visiting auctions online. In my book, there is nothing like spotting an old item from my childhood or teen years that conjures up memories that have been buried for many years.
Not many my age can forget the Beatles. I clearly remember the first time I heard about them, girls gathered around at a private school I went to talking about 4 guys with long hair that would be coming to America. I was somewhere between 6th and 8th grade at the time. Then they came, they were on the Ed Sullivan show, my parents looked at me with strange looks as I watched clips on the news of girls screaming and simply losing it over the Beatles. Of course we all had our favorite Beatle, and a collection of Beatle Cards and albums. Every once in a while I run across an old Beatle card, and wish I’d never thrown away the huge stack of them I used to have so many years ago, and wish I still had my old vinyl records that found there way to other hands when we did a mass clean-out of our house.
So what does one do when they want to track down some of their favorite music memorabilia? Rare Vinyl Records and Memorabilia can be found at 991.com, search for whatever is missing from your collection, or start that old collection you remember so well all over again with items that are in mint or near-mint condition. In fact I found a LOT of Beatles items, old and new.
What are you looking for? Stop by at 991.com, and look carefully, they have a LOT available, and some great search features to help you narrow down your search. Great site!
I love attending a particular auction a few towns away from me, and visiting auctions online. In my book, there is nothing like spotting an old item from my childhood or teen years that conjures up memories that have been buried for many years.