FRIDAY!

Pre-Snow earlier this week!

Week two of 2012 has been a success and there is finally snow on the ground in Chicago! Usually I'm happy to see Friday roll around merely for the fact that my body gets a breather for two days but not this week. Saturday morning starts off bright and early at 9:30 with a West Side Story (Int'l Tour) audition that I'm on the fence about attending, and then at 1:00 is Danceworks Chicago which I am definitely going to. So either way, the dancin' shoes will be on this weekend.

Since I've been home from school, I've been spending a lot of time with my Grandma who has Alzheimer's which has been an education in and of itself. I usually walk with my engrained New York pace into her assisted living center all scatterbrained and preoccupied with my own day and how well it did or did not go, and as soon as I see her cross-stitching in her room or her and the "ladies" sitting in a circle of walkers and canes in the common area talking about god knows what, my entire mood and perspective on the day changes instantly. It makes my day-to-day worries and petty little fears look so stupid that I want to slap myself and say, "Wake up!" 

A few weeks ago, I was sitting with her watching TV and ice skating came on. Somewhere deep down, she knows I'm a dancer and she knows how hard I work but only if prompted (she would never be able to strike up a conversation about me candidly at this point). 

Example: I called her from New York last Spring to say hello. And she said, "You're in New York?! Oh my goodness, what are you doing there?" This was my Senior year of college! 

So, we're sitting there talking about how pretty the skaters look and the costumes and the tricks and so on, and she says, "Goodness, can you imagine how long it must take to be able to do that?" And I'm thinking, well hell, I sure can imagine that because I'M LIVING THAT CRAZINESS. But, I respond, "Oh yea, I can only imagine!" 

5 minutes later..."Goodness, can you imagine how long it must take to be able to do that?" 

Oh, boy.

3 minutes later..."Goodness, can you imagine how long it must take to be able to do that?

This continued for the duration of the competition and I silently giggled to myself because if you don't laugh about it you're going to cry and I'd rather laugh. 

Here is the woman who, just five or six years ago, helped sew pointe shoes and costumes and tutus and now thinks that the damn ice skaters work harder than dancers! 

People say it all the time, but each and every day is so precious and we don't know what tomorrow will bring. I am the number one culprit of letting my mind reside somewhere in the near future, but the only way to be present is to forget about yesterday and forget about tomorrow which, in a way,  is exactly what Alzheimer's does.

It's Friday. 

Be on Friday.

Enjoy THIS Friday (the 13th!) and whatever it may bring for you.