I was saddened when I woke up this morning and learned that Patrick Swayze had died. If you're like me, you spent a significant part of your childhood watching Dirty Dancing. I watched it so many times it drove my parents absolutely insane. I had the movie memorized. Later there was Ghost, which I also loved. They are two of the most memorable movies from my childhood.
Dear Patrick,
Thank you for making movies that meant so much to me when I was younger, and even now. You will always be a part of my childhood memories.

Trying some new things and retrying some old...

One of the goals of this blog was to chronicle all the new things I was going to try this year. Well, I've tried some new stuff and I've tried some stuff that I used to do all over again. Some things have been successful, others have not. I've enjoyed going to baseball games and bowling (although I'm really bad at it). I played putt putt for the first time in over a decade and had a great time. I went roller skating and that didn't go so well. It was a much better idea in my mind than in reality. It seems I forgot that I actually needed some sort of physical coordination to roller skate. Funny how much more worried you are about breaking an arm or a leg or your skull at 30 than you were at 13. This weekend I'm going to try to play tennis. I've only played tennis once in my life, at camp when I was 11 years old. I don't know if I'll be any good, but I'm going to give it a shot. Either way, I know I'll have a good time.

Absolute joy

As usual, I am spending my Friday night lounging on my couch and watching a movie. Today I decided I wanted to watch one that would make me laugh and cry so I chose Love Actually which is one of my favorite movies of all time. There are so many great scenes in this movie. One of my favorites is when Laura Linney's character is brought home by the cute guy she's been in love with forever. She is so excited that she has to excuse herself to jump up and down. I absolutely love that. It reminds me of the scene in Sense & Sensibility when Emma Thompson finds out that Hugh Grant isn't married. She is so overcome with joy that she breaks into a crying jag. And so do I. Both of these scenes make me so happy that I cry and smile at the same time. They are moments of absolute, pure joy and it can't be contained. How often do moments like that come along in our lives? Not nearly often enough. I've come as close as I ever have to experiencing pure joy this year, a year that I hadn't expected to be so amazing. Here's to hoping we all get to experience these moments, and that we get to do it soon.