Rainbows, Religion, French Fries and Love

We took the grandchildren and our son and daughter-in-law out to a nice restaurant in Northern Virginia where they live, to celebrate Valentine’s Day last year. This holiday has become a very important holiday throughout the country now days. It is a holiday that signifies the power of love not only between couples but also between family members.

When I was a kid, your father took an old shoe box, cut a slit in the top cover and you covered it with colored wrapping paper or even a brown bag from the grocery store and took it to school and everyone would put in a small card that cost about a penny in those days, as a Valentine card for you and you did the same for each child in the class. However, some children were mean spirited and did not put a card into everyone’s box and that often made the child sad because he or she did not get lots of cards.

There was a boy in my class named Ralph and when he opened his box, he had only two cards, one from me and one from another girl. I will never forget even after 65 years of remembering it, the sadness on his face. He came over to me and thanked me five times for the card I had sent. As an eleven year old at that time, I felt such empathy and sadness for him. When my children were in elementary school, the teacher sent home a list with every child’s name on it to encourage every child to send a card to every child. My grandson is in kindergarten now and my daughter-in-law said yesterday that this is what his school is encouraging now too. That is the way it should be. No child should feel slighted when opening his or her Valentine box and seeing only a very few bunch of cards there. This already shows a mean spiritedness within the children and their parents who do not inspire their kids to write a card to everyone. It is a matter of decency, I think.

I am sure Ralph (even remember his last name) is a fine senior citizen now with children of his own and probably is more of a successful adult than many of the mean spirited kids from way back in 1946 or so.

When we were eating dinner then to celebrate Valentine’s Day, little 3.5 years old Ava Maya took her French fry and bent in a shape and said “this is like a rainbow.” What an insightful child to take a fry and see in it the shape of a rainbow. A rainbow is a spectrum, an arc and a band. So we can relate a rainbow to ballroom dancing. Here is how.  Ballroom dancing is a combining of movement of feet, arms, hands, legs, shoulders and of course the brain which is the arc of the whole being of dancing. Without the brain stimulating the thought process, we could not even attempt to ballroom dance. Of course, other forms of dance that some of the young people are involved in may not appear to need the brain to stimulate them.

When we first started to dance in 1977, I could not stop at first from looking at my feet because I thought my feet would not move if I did not look at them. We all feel that way and usually stop after a few hours of dancing instruction when we realize that we need not look at our feet to actually dance. When we actually realize that, we are fine with this new understanding of dancing.

So to the French fry looking like a rainbow to little 3.5 year old Ava, to the ballroom dancer who looks at his or her feet and to all of us seniors who still dance and enjoy the spectrum, the arc and the band that plays for our dancing, I say Ballroom Dancing is still one of the most invigorating, demanding, lovely and magnificent activity everyone can do, especially seniors and do it we shall for as long as we can.

There is a fine man I met in November in the Owings Mills Staples store. We bought a large, gold stuffed office chair for me to sit on when I write these articles for Patch and other writings. In fact, it is too plush and too big and too everything. It hurts my tussy to sit on this high and full upholstered chair when one would think it would be so comfortable. So I called the store and spoke to the assistant manager Mr.Damion Berry and he is taking it back and we bought a new ‘thinner’ chair which will in fact be better for my aching back and hurting knees. The first one was too high, even though you can move it up and down. It was too full and really uncomfortable for me to use. He was pleasant, kind, compassionate, caring and helpful in picking out a new one more suitable for my senior, slim body.

He told me he just started a new church in Pikesville and he is a pastor who loves to give his sermons on the New and Old Testament and on life in general. He is the father of six and grandfather of four. He handles his Staples job with accuracy, pride and much politeness. The name of the church is God’s Church 1496 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, Maryland 21208. He calls it a ministry looking to return the church to God’s people. He said “we are looking to build a ministry that can be a blessing to others that struggle with their relationships. When I meet people and they touch my life even if I never them see them again, I pray for them. My desire is we work together for the good of the kingdom. God is the light of my life.”

So he works in Owings Mills, has a new church in Pikesville and lives in Baltimore City. An all-around man with as I see it from meeting him twice, a fine example of a good person trying to bring religion to his new members that come from all over the area. His Sunday church meeting starts at 3 PM and his phone number for any questions that may need to be answered is 443 983 6775.Everyone is welcome and one day, Jerry and I will visit it as a guest friend to Damion Berry. His email is damionb5@yahoo.com.

So to the coming and next holiday of Valentine’s Day which promotes love, albeit in a commercial way, but also in a happy manner, dancing, rainbows and new churches all blend in to love. Love from children, love from spouses, and love of religion. Any way we receive and give love is so important. The surveys taken often say that people who love and are loved live longer. Of course, other things influence the length of life; but it is never too difficult to love and be loved if we try to.

Just writing about Valentine’s Day is a loving task for me. I am surrounded by it with my husband of fifty-one and a half years, my two adult children, my two in-law children, my four delightful, smart and of course gorgeous and handsome grandchildren and this writing career of mine. In our time, we had two Pekingese doggies who loved us and we them.

Do whatever brings you love, companionship, happiness and contentment. It can be dancing, writing, golfing, theatre experiences, eating out, going to religious houses  of worship, staying home in your lovely surroundings, going out with friends and or family or even a job you like. Valentine’s Day honors love and we honor all love means to us at any age we are now. We can be kids, teens, adults, almost seniors and lastly seniors. Love can and will surround us. From the Bible-Blessed are the peacemakers for they are the Children of God. That we are and can continue to be.