A little bit ago, I came across this poem: "Forever"  by a newbie who goes by PoeticHeart .

This was a tribute to a much-loved dance teacher who must have recently passed on, because I notice that the other poems now posted in PoeticHeart 's portfolio are about this same teacher.

This newbie isn't looking for ratings and/or reviews--just wants to share a person with readers and would like to hear from people re: how this and the other poems have touched them.

As you can see, this poem made me think of a special friend from way back in my college days who is no longer here to send a Christmas card to me each year but who will always be here with me in spirit:

This is what I wrote...


When I read this, I was reminded of my special friend, Pat, from college days.

He and I kept in touch for decades after our college days had ended, and he always sent me a Christmas card.

One year, no Christmas card from him arrived during the entire season, even though he had always been one of the first to send his out--and I somehow knew that the Christmas card from the previous year would be my last.

Of course, I knew that Pat had A.I.D.S. and that, during our last telephone conversation, he had sounded much worse.

A letter from his half-brother containing a personal note and a copy of the funeral mass that arrived the first part of the year confirmed what I already suspected.

One thing that Pat always told me was that he was so proud of me for not letting go of my dream to write.

The way Pat felt about my call to write seems to be the way your teacher felt about your call to dance.

Right at this very moment, they just might be watching us!

http://www.barb-coolwaters.com/c001/hopeyoudance.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxU_7R0fj9g

Blessings!
Peace & Love From AJ

Snow is supposed to be coming in later tonight, but Christmas Day, itself, wasn't white. But, here in Anderson, Indiana, it rained and rained and rained.

I returned from my long-overdue R&R this afternoon and spent some quality time eating and driving around with my mom before we both settled into our homes.

It was wonderful to be on my R&R trip, but it's also great to be home again.

One of the first things I did was to look over my computer--and I found the news that the Godfather Of Soul, James Brown, had passed away this morning from a combination of congestive heart-failure and pnumonia.

He wasn't young, but he wasn't old, either--at least, from my perspective. Seventy-three, if I remember correctly. Nope! Not exactly young. Neither is my new age of 54. Where does time go to?

I remember the first time when I saw James Brown.

He was part of this movie called T.A.M.I.--and, imo, was making a fool of himself in it. He was hopping around on one foot, screeching, and falling to the floor.

His Famous Flames would wrap him in a cape, and he would rise from the floor with new life and go around doing what reminded me, at the age of 12, of somebody throwing a temper tantrum.

The long-since-razed Van Noy movie theater in Middletown, Indiana soon contained a sea of response that would have made Simon seem as tender as Oprah.

We booed and chanted, "Bring on The Rolling Stones! Bring on The Rolling Stones!"

Soon, this screeching nut exited the stage for a final time, and it wasn't long after that when it became the turn of The Rolling Stones to entertain the masses.

My folks got so tired of my going around and doing my imitation of James Brown. This and my imitation of the noisy space heater in a motel where we'd stayed a little over a year before definitely didn't win high ratings with them! LL

One day, he appeared on Where The Action Is, and he was actually singing. I called my cousins to let them know that James Brown had learned how to sing. Their response was, "I'll bet!"

I told them that he had a great voice--and, on top of that, was actually good-looking. With his face all contorted during that performance in the T.A.M.I. movie, he'd looked like a ghoul!

Not long after that, I called them and told them that James Brown was going to be on Where The Action Is again, and they told me that they knew that and weren't going to be watching it. But I finally convinced them to watch it with me and see how cute he was and what a great singer he now was.

I can still remember Barbara rolling her eyes and shaking her head when he spent his appearance making lunatic faces and screeching.

Neither of my cousins could believe that I'd actually seen him do better than this.

Then, he came out with Papa's Got A Brand New Bag and I Feel Good, and my cousins had to admit that he WAS quite capable of singing when he put his mind to it--even though I don't believe they ever saw him as cute as I did (and still do).

James Brown has one of those teddy bear faces. Take a close look at his face, and I think you'll see what I mean.

I would find out many years later that his talents actually sometimes included his crooning something in a velvety voice like one might expect to hear out of Bing Crosby.

His orchestra is an act in and of itself--and he was behind making it that way.

I heard that, when his talents put him in a financial position to do so, he put up restaurants and motels in the South where fellow Blacks could go at prices affordable to them and not off-limits as many of the White establishments were back before The Civil Rights Bill was passed (and, even after it was, there were ways to get around continuing to segregate).

Not to say that he was a perfect angel by any means.

I've also learned about things that he's done in his life that aren't exactly something of which to be proud--but, to some degree, this is true of everybody.

There's a wonderful song that was popular when I was young. In fact, I have my own 45 of it (Kids, ask your parents/grandparents to explain what I've just said!).

It's called The Three Bells and was sung by a group made up of a brother and two sisters called The Browns. The brother, in fact, is now an act by himself in the country music world: Jim Ed Brown.

The song told of the birth, life, and passing of a guy named Jimmy Brown, whom I assume to be either the dad or grandpa of these siblings.

Near the end, it tells how the main character passed away, "One rainy morning dark and gray."

This song has always reminded me of my maternal grandpa, George Elmer "Greeley" Jobe.

I was only six when he passed away, but I seem to remember the day being a rainy one.

Of course, I was blissfully-unaware that he had passed away the morning of August 31, 1959. This also happened to be my very first day of first grade.

After September 11, 2001, I remember reading an article about children coming home from school--only to learn the sad news that one or both parents (or some other relative) had been killed in one of the senseless acts of terrorism that took place that day.

Due to my own grandpa's passing being learned about after I'd bounced in after a wonderfully-exciting day of school, I at least know to some degree what this was like.

I knew that Grandpa was in the hospital, but I'd expected him to be home again soon (He stayed at our house part of the year,), and it wouldn't be long before he'd be there in his special chair in the living room waiting for me to run over and hug him to pieces.

For a long time after that, I always had the same wish whenever we had fried chicken and I pulled the wishbone: God would send Grandpa back to us.

At least, he was 87 years old and his physical body was starting to deteriorate while those deaths that took place on September 11, 2001 happened to people who were, more likely than not, in great health with lots more years they should have lived here among their children and other loved ones.

Anyway, the song The Three Bells, which is wonderfully displayed on the following website:

http://my.homewithgod.com/redbirdjan/bells.html

now has taken on yet another meaning with the passing of The Godfather Of Soul, and I'm going to share the last part of the song as a tribute to him...

"...Just a lonely bell was ringing
In the little valley town
Twas farewell that it was singing
To our good old Jimmy Brown


And the little congregation
Prayed for guidance from above
Lead us not into temptation,
May his soul find the salvation

"Of thy great eternal love"..."

http://www.godfatherofsoul.com/

Before long, I'll be leaving for R&R but wanted to share new plans first.
As my "adopted" kid brother and computer guru might want access to make some repairs to it, I'm leaving computer on for at least the next couple of days.

Will be home late Saturday, but will be leaving again on Sunday and returning on Monday (the latter, a mother/daughter road-trip). Will be on off and on Christmas Day (likely, more off than on).

The message still applies: I'm not ignoring you. I'm just not really here.

Here's a short movie that will touch your hearts. Please watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiW2cJCnBOA
 

Thanks to so much to finish up here, I won't be leaving on R&R trip until sometime early tomorrow. Same schedule. Three days and two nights. Just seemed as if one of the three days were getting used up, so I decided to start with a fresh slate. Don't plan on being online for very long tonight. Hope to get in bed early (for me). Here's a quick replay of yesterday's blog-entry... "Simple Message" . As I've said before...once you see my computer turned off for very long at it, it probably means that it won't be turned back on again until I return home (sometime Saturday).
 

When my computer's still on, I'm still here. When you see it shut off, expect it to be shut off until at least Thursday evening or Friday aftrernoon. Take care of each other!

Don't forget to keep up with "The Butterfly Effect"  while I'm gone and please leave positive feedback to UY... .
 

This is ridiculous!!! This is just plain uncalled for!!!

Bravo to anyone--such as the writer of this item--who is ready to fight against flimsy excuses to use defenseless animals for target practice!

ID: 947940   (Rated: 13+) Title: My Letter to Wisc NR Dept Re Feral Cats  Description: Please help save the cats in Wisconsin By: Darkin Stormy Night

I've just finished posting something over at Judy's Book called Has Your Internet Experience Been Tasting Different Lately? It can be found by using this link:

http://www.judysbook.com/members/AJ1952Chats/questions/13713/

Anyway, take a look at it and give me some feedback.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm finally taking that little vacation I've been promising myself, so I won't be back on here for the next couple of days.

Will catch you up later...
 

I've just learned that I wasn't the bad person and con-artist being written about, and I'm so glad. That's all I have to say except to not take it personally when there are days when I'm not here. I have several sites I try to keep up with and can only do so much. My presence might not be everywhere, but always remember that my heart is. I've let myself get worn-out, so I wasn't all that active anywhere. I'm trying to catch up on some rest. One thing that will be a big help is getting some new shoes. My current ones have had enough wear and tear on them from having a fat lady wearing them that they've lost their comfort. I've been meaning to buy new ones, but other things kept coming up. Going to buy new shoes this week, and that will take years off my life. That's all for now...
 

I should have come here and written something to let people know that I was around. I think I've hurt some feelings without intending to.

Recently, I've been spending a lot of time building up my presence at MySpace.com, and I haven't been all that perky, either, as I've managed to burn the candle at both ends and wore out.

I certainly wasn't turning my back on people around here. I guess I should have left some kind of message. I meant to. Have had so many things to do, both online and in real life.

Sometimes, I feel as if I'm not much good to anybody, and this is one of those times. Please just believe that I never meant to hurt anybody.