Thrill the World...or Not

Good grief...

how can I still succumb to peer pressure

at this age?

Yet, it seems I have and because of it

I, once again

find myself doing something

I have NO business doing.

Kind of like paddling on the ocean while

being “swimming challenged”

okay, so this is not as dangerous or foolish....

no wait,

it is definitely as foolish...!

Maybe more so!

So last night,

with very convincing friends

(the same ones that talked me into paddling)

along with this “secret desire” in my heart

(that ultimately fails to occur)

I find myself on a dance floor

with sixty other people

with the same “secret desire”

but for THEM...

it actually appears to be happening.

This is no place I have ever been before,

(or should be for that matter)

I am trying to learn dance moves

I cannot begin to remember,

follow or execute.

It is soon very apparent

that holy crap....I SUCK...

Not that I didn’t already know this

but I thought maybe,

just maybe,

something magical might happen

Michael Jackson’s spirit would over take me

and I would be sliding across the floor

as if on the moon.

hmmm...not so much!

The moon in my mind, maybe!

It is a call to “Thrill the World”

on Halloween night.

Where we will supposedly dance

this very complicated number down

main street for Fright Night...

Because I am so in love with the idea

of participating...

I am torn between giving up the “secret”desire

or giving up every hour of my life

for the next three weeks...

to be a part of it!

Tough choice!

Like most people my age,

we grew up with MJ

(I thought I would actually marry him...

which is more ironic then my trying to

learn his dance moves)

I loved his genius and brilliance

and was sympathetic

towards his social challenges,

seeing him at times

to be

just too bright for this world!

So why wouldn’t I want to

for a minute in time

honor him, be him, move like him?

Well pretty sure none

of THAT is going to happen...

and after my friend,

tattled on me to the instructor

(who is adorable and super talented)

that I wasn’t coming back

she said, I couldn’t leave,

and to just have fun!

Hmmmm!

Soooo, I guess

there will be no sneaking off

to the lobby NOW

and I am going to just

have to learn how to dance for the first time

in my life...

So,

if you don’t hear from me for awhile?

I will be doing my booty bounce swim,

my zombie march,

my roar and claw

and my favorite “waz up.”

Pretty sure...

I won’t be THRILLING the World

or even Havasu

but hopefully my friends will be

cause I tried to learn something

I, again, have no business doing...

but if I can paddle on an ocean

that I am terrified of ending up in...

at least here?

I won’t drown

or encounter a shark.)

And the worst that can happen...?

is I might look really dumb

while having fun!

So what the hell...here it goes!

Stay tuned.

I will let you know!

Check it out...www.thrilltheworld.com

In search of Georgia..continued

While Taos didn't call my name

Santa Fe and New Mexico

seem to be yelling it...

Years ago in California

while being twenty something,

a red haired vixen of a women,

gave me a job, in a frame shop.

I knew little about art outside

of Minnesotas' wildlife stamps

and had to become slowly educated as

the posters passed by me, in their

various forms of framing options...

Many of which were large flowers

with capital O'Keefe at the bottom.

I didn't get her or her work

never thought of her much after that

...really!

But the red haired women?

She became a friend for life...

and lives in Santa Fe!

After Taos it seemed appropriate

to go to visit the Georgia O'Keefe museum

in Santa Fe,

my traveling companion Ed

(a long time fan) is excited...

while I am quietly ambivalent.

There are quotes all over the walls,

her writings, are what

finally, truly

move me,

she speaks of her work, her life, her art

and I am drawn in...

a window onto this wondrous woman

is opened...

and I see her for who she was!

But the "museum movie"

leaves us feeling flat

I say again and again

"she had to be more interesting than that

she JUST had to be!"

It seems she was!

It is sunset

on my friends' patio,

Alicia, who is as spicy and feisty

as her hair color,

gives me a sense of "family

and sisterhood"

that only a "multiple decade friendship"

can do,

you know,

the one and only person

who knows you better than anyone,

who can jibe, poke and make fun

of the things no one else can

get away with...

(like the graying hair your not really

trying to hide but

hope... no one mentions either?)

We agree, that we have been at

one another's shoulders

for all the big moments in life,

first job,

first house,

first fire,

first mouse...

(don't ask!)

Thanks to Ed our exchange

and charm and adoration

is captured shot by shot!

And is a gift!

Also, gratefully and perfectly,

she has the Georgia O' Keefe

Lifetime movie

recorded

and we wonder and murmur over it's

supreme storytelling,

(while running down the hall

to write down various lines!)

This artistic woman of strength

and iconic character

becomes my hero, my muse

my guide,

in a matter of three days!!

It started with a symbolic trip to Taos

and Mabel Dodge Luhan's lodge,

a note in a tree,

a question where to go and be,

Georgia everything...

and the spirits of significant friends.

Am I am being

led to make a change?

...I am listening...

waiting ...wondering!

Funny, I didn't even know

I was looking for Georgia,

yet there she is at every turn

this woman who not only painted

the New Mexico sky...

she actually, became it!

So I am thinking,

what are we without

our hero's and friend's?

And when they call our names

isn't it true...

our only answer can be

"Yes,

I am on my way!"

Pam Reinke