Tale as old as time...

There's a scene in the animated movie "Beauty and the Beast" where the beast and Belle are dancing in the ballroom.  Angela Lansbury is singing "tale as old as time" and Belle is twirling on the dancefloor with the help of her partner - the Beast.  A commercial for the re-release of this Disney animated video came on TV the night before last and I "knew" it was on but wasn't really paying much attention to it...

Eddie said to me..."that was your favorite part."

Me:  "what?"

Eddie:  "of the movie - you always liked that part where Belle's dress twirls around."

Me:  (smiling) "yep"

How did Eddie remember this?  I had to think for a minute before remembering all this myself.  But he's right about it...there was always something about the animation and the way the gown flowed that I loved to watch.  And believe me, we watched that movie a lot!  It was a favorite of Anna Marie.  I just wonder what made him remember this particular little fact from the past. 

I have this black ballroom type gown that I've always loved.  I can't get into it right now!...but maybe again one day.  Anyway, it's one of those dresses that flows and when you dance it swirls and just makes you feel beautiful.  We went to the Heart Ball a while back at Vestavia Country Club and I got on the dance floor later in the evening and just twirled and twirled.  Sure, I'd had a little wine but felt perfectly fine.  Eddie kept telling me to stop twirling but I just couldn't...I was hooked on twirling that night!   And the way the dress shifted when I would suddently stop and start twirling the other direction.  Maybe he was remembering that night too when he saw the Beauty and the Beast commercial.  I don't know...

What makes us remember certain things about people, places and things?  That is always fascinating to me.  I mean, you have four sisters in a family experiencing the same thing and we all have different recollections of the same incident.  Everyone's focus is on something different, other details and what not.  I guess that's why it's good to pool your memories and share them with one another.

I remember after my dad died and me and two of my sisters were going through drawers in my parent's garage.  There were a number of things in one drawer that belonged to dad.  One item was a dark blue hankerchief with a few small white stripes.  I remember that hankerchief so well...  We were living in Puerto Rico at the time.  I had a cold and was sniffling in the car on our way to school.   Dad would drive us every day because there was no bus system there.  I must have been pretty miserable and dad handed me that hankerchief to take to school with me that day.  After that, whenever I needed a hankerchief, that was the one I would use.  I hadn't seen it in years when it turned up in that box in the garage with a bunch of others.  Now, it could have very easily been scooped up with other generic type items and shipped off to Goodwill.  But lucky for me, I saw it there...briefly shared the story with my sisters and then tucked it away in my purse to take home with me.  They had no idea...and even though they were happy to see items that belonged to my dad in that box, simply because they belonged to dad and they knew he had used them...I was fortunate enough to remember something specific about one of the items.

The hankerchief is in the family room cabinet with dad's rosary and next to a picture of him in his T-bird car.  The black ballroom gown is in the front closet in the foyer.  The memories are tucked away in my head and now written in this blog.  I want to get more of these memories down on paper.  I also want to know what memories are in Eddie's head...his memory is always so much better than mine too...

Another short detour...

A funny thing happened on the way to the weekend....I ended up needing a massage and a heating pad.  So much for the list of things to get done today...once again put on the back burner.  Combine that with taking a Claritin tablet last night...I don't know about those meds.  I always end up feeling worse the next day.  Groggy and not quite up to speed. 

I was getting out of the car yesterday after work and I suddenly felt a pain shoot across my left shoulder-blade and up my neck.  What fun...we were getting ready to go see Emily's opening night of her musical and it just slowed me down a bit.  When I woke up this morning it was not only achy and more painful but my head and eyes felt swollen and I couldn't really turn my head too far left.  I was lucky enough to get a massage appointment around 11 then...

The massage therapist was excellent.  She really talked to me about what was hurting, etc.  I can't remember anyone really working all the pressure points up and down my neck.  People always hear you say you are having a masssage and say to you "oh that feels so good!"  In this case, it really didn't.  It didn't even "hurt so good" as I've said before.  I mean those pressure points are sore already and then add the constant pressure she was adding...OUCH!  The therapist told me the base of my neck is pretty knotted up on the left side.  No wonder it hurt so bad!  She told me to use heat when I got home and that I would be sore but should feel better tomorrow.

At this point I've been on heat off and on most of the day.  It took awhile to get comfortable on the couch.  Of course, my pup Lucy had to get right up there with me.  She's sitting on the cushion right now while I watch a movie and write.  All the "stuff" swirling in my head all afternoon has finally slowed down a bit.  Thankfully.  I did want to get some paperwork (always paperwork) done, my car cleaned out of paperwork - geez...in an age of computers and laptops where does all the paperwork come from?  It just grows and grows...

I wanted to see Emily's musical again tonight.  I was going to go help at the theatre and be there.  The show was amazing last night.  I can't believe what this theatre company was able to do in a very short period of time with young people.  The opening number alone was worth the price of admission.  I have to say that between this performance and last year's performance of High School Musical II, Emily has really grown and looks so seasoned.  I was so proud watching her last night on stage.  She is really loving musical theatre and she just shines when she is on stage.  I'll be there to see her tomorrow and get chillbumps as I watch her perform.

Right now I'm wishing I were still on medical leave so I could just keep that clear mindset and write or read or even work on photography.  Right now I feel so far away from that goal of the photography business.  I know once one major event I have the end October is over I'll have time to breathe more and get back to that "clear mind" feeling that I loved so much back in May.  Now I "know" what it feels like and I want to get that feeling back.

But for now better to get some rest and what not before the new week starts because these next few weeks are going to be doozies...