1987-We took 2nd Place.

I was visiting my business neighbor yesterday. I told her about FaceBook and how great it was for me to be in touch with so many people from my past. Not only from my past, but from different segments of the themes and threads running through what is the complex quilt of my life. This middle age is a great thing, it's a time for self-love and true integration and I'm feeling new levels of joy that I'd never even imagined before.

It's such a privilege to know so many great people, and to realize that they truly remember me. I think in my younger years I felt very invisible. Middle age is almost a strange realization that everything actually HAPPENED!

Anyway, I start telling her about this one friend of mine, Johnnie Walker. Johnnie and I hung out a lot in the 80's. We'd just go out dancing. That was our thing. Usually in Georgetown. I could not know how I was going to buy food the next day but off we would go and I'd spend my last $20 on barfood and beer and dance the night away with my buddy Johnnnie. The next day, things always seemed so much better and the next wait shift would kick in and that was the life.

This was also the time before my intensive training. This was when I had no command vocally and my movement training consisted of my Mother's guilt in giving my sister everything-leading to me at the age of 20 studying dance at Miss Bobbies studio with a lot of 10 year olds in tutus. It's humiliatingly true. Eventually, my dance teacher rented a room from me in my house and to my surprise she was very whore-ish and collected hockey sticks from the Caps. Each time she slept with one, they'd litereally give her thier stick and she had a life sized Pink Panther in her room that held them upright. Lesson learned. You should never rent a room to a whore who sleeps on a daybed with wheels. It'll be hard to get rest. But, that's probably a different story for a different time.

Oh yeah, and I also trained to teach Jazzercise. So, I was very bouncy with pointed toes.

One night Johnnie and I walk into this place, I want to say it was called Knickerbockers but that's another place and yet another story. This place was really close to Blackie's House of Beef just above Georgetown and across the street from the Dome, where I would later meet Alan. Lou-something maybe.

It was a restaurant AND a club and they were playing older music. The kind of music my Grandfather taught his girls to dance to, where they twirl and spin and reach hands behind heads in a slide out and twirl. I never learned how to do it but I'd watched it a lot. I can mock the style pretty well.

So as Johnnie and I are walking in we hear it announced, "Last chance to enter the dance competition, first place is $100". Say no more. So, Johnnie and I jump out onto the dance floor and it's packed! Full. And there are these judges walking around, whatever. And, I'm laughing at Johnnie because we usually danced to 80's music and a lot of Prince. A lot. So this was really silly for us.

There was one couple maybe in their 50's, which seemed much older at the time than it does as I type this. Clearly, they had worked their moves for about 3 decades. We were dancing it out on the floor. The stakes were getting higher. Couples were leaving the floor. Tapped out. Judges with clipboards. Whatever.

I think I was bouncing and kicking a lot and maybe twirling my fingers. So, the pressure's really on now. I spin away, flourish, come back to Johnnie and say, "okay, I'm going to run at you", spin away, flourish, come back to Johnnie, " and then I'm going to leap onto your left hip", spin away, flourish, come back to Johnnie, "and I'll fly over to your right hip, and then...", spin away, flourish, come back, "I'm going to push off of you through the air", spin away, flourish. I come back to Johnnie who is a man of few words and he only has one thing to say and I remember it very clearly, "no, you're not".

So, I begin again spin away flourish, explain the plan in rhythm and with timing.

And his response is exactly the same, "no, you're not".

I cannot remember what song was playing but I had spun away from Johnnie to establish quite a distance. And, you have to understand the level of skill of our competitors. I mean they were seriously synchopated. And, if you don't know this about me, I'm naturally competitive. Born like that.

Plus, $50 bucks each could cover a few meals and Johnnie was about to move to LA so it was a win/win as far as I could see. So, I just looked into Johnnies eyes. And, this was the moment. There are silly little seemingly insignficant moments we have with each other and inside of them many things are determined. This moment determined that Johnnie would be a friend for life. The reason for that is he clearly wanted to run out of the room. He didn't want to stand there. And as I started to run AT him the urge behind his eyes to run for his dignity and possibly his life was growing and I could see that. But, Johnnie knew me. And he knew I would run right into the wall at full speed if he moved.

Why wasn't I a better friend? Why ON EARTH what I put my friend through that with no rehearsal? I think we've already covered my naturally competitive nature and late start in training systems and procedures.

I was halfway there and I started to giggle. I jumped, putting both of my hands on his shoulders, toes pointed and legs straight as my very loose teacher had taught me, and I flung onto his left hip and then back into the air onto his right and then up again to land with some flourish that made the crowd applaud. In my mind they all rose to their feet and we were flooded with accolades, but I can't speak to the truth of any of this.

We got a rose. For second place. And really, the married couple had the hours in, I'm sure. At the time I was pretty sure we could have used the money more though.

I never entered another dance contest.

Sometimes you just have to go out on the high note.

Thank you JOHNNIE WALKER for the millions of laughs and for the genuine stuff. Love you so.