Bungee Cord of Life

Los Angeles, California

And that is the thing about life...it has its ups and downs. September, October, and even this month of November, were tough. There was Mom. And there was Sandra. But in early autumn, I threw myself into salsa dance in a way that I hadn't really done before. Salsa dance became all. I started dancing at a club in Pasadena which wasn't too populated. There was a decent-sized dance floor and room to move. I danced in a variety of my Toms-brand shoes there. The floor was concrete and rough on dance shoes. I was still dancing in Westlake Village and in Glendale. Have shoes, will travel. And I saw a lot of the same people at any club I frequented.

The thing about salsa dance is that it is musical. And it is creative. And, lastly, it is aerobic. And there is nothing like those three things to pull you up by your boot, or dance-shoe, straps, and shake you out of your blues. Was my mom still blind. Yes. Was Sandra still struggling? Yes. Was I salsa dancing as fast as I could? Si.

I now had a favorite band, Son Miron, who frequently performed at two of the clubs I went to regularly, and also performed at another club in Thousand Oaks. I was hanging with a group, and we often stayed until closing, then went out to eat...usually at McDonald's. I was probably eating more McDonald's french fries than I had in my entire senior year of high school. Sometimes you need arrested development. And that is what was happening through these months.

Todd & Christopher invited us to have Thanksgiving at their house. That was a blessing. We were at complete loose ends, no longer tied to what had become a downward-spiraling family tradition. At T&C's we enjoyed good company and conversation, and wonderful food in their beautiful, downtown, sorta loft space. Hard to explain the three-story, former industrial building, now divided into units where they now live. But it's really lovely.

So now we are rounding the corner towards our return to Carmel. We leave in three weeks. It will just be us for Christmas, with Brendan and Diana coming in for New Year's. Last hurrah for that house, though hopefully not for Carmel. At this point I don't know, I'm just riding it out.

The bungee cord of life was in a Peanuts cartoon, where Charlie Brown lamented that he was suspended from the bungee cord of life. But the thing about the bungee cord is that you get ups, and you get downs. It's all movement. And as I dance around trying to make sense of all that has happened in life; as I reflect on the good memories that are still being made . . . . . memories with Sandra, the Thanksgiving with good friends, and all of the dance in my life, I remind myself that when you are down with the bungee cord, you just have to be patient and wait momentarily, and then you will rise back up. You just need to remember...to keep it in mind. Oh...and try not to throw up. Thank you for reading my blog. Remember the world according to Roxy Music, and Dance Away...