Carpe Diem
Generally translated as “Seize the moment,” it means: “the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future” according to Miriam-Webster’s on-line dictionary which goes on to say it literally means, “Pluck the day.” And I rarely do. And we all need to.
I just called a friend of mine who I met thru a Sacred Dance class that I took some years ago, and I usually see her at an annual week-end retreat we often attend. The retreat is put on by the ADT – Alleluia Dance Theatre. You can like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AlleluiaDanceTheater btw.
Anyway, when Kathy didn’t answer the phone, I started to leave a message. I hadn’t been able to attend the week-end and I’d wanted to see if she’d gone and how it went. She leads a dance group for young women at her church, something that I’ve wanted to do for years, and I was going to ask her if I could practice with them once in a while as my teacher no longer holds classes and I just don’t seem to have anyone to dance with.
While I was leaving my message, a phone call came in from her. You know how cell phones do that. Anyway, the woman on the end of the line explained that she was Kathy’s caregiver. And, of course, she is not at liberty to tell me what’s happened to Kathy to cause her to need a caregiver.
We last danced together almost a year ago, in October I think, at a local music festival that was held at St. Mary Star of the Sea, a small Catholic church nearby. We’d been recruited by our former teacher, Emmalyn Moreno, who is one of the most gifted people I’ve ever met. She, too, has a web site http://musicbyemmalyn.com/index.html. She sings like an angel, plays the piano flawlessly, and is a truly wonderful dance teacher always meeting her students where they are and even encouraging them to do some of their own choreography.
I can’t imagine what arrow has befallen my friend Kathy and I pray warring angels around her right now – on all four sides.
Raised by a really strict Catholic mom, I thought the idea of sacred dance was a bit far out, if not downright sacrilegious when I first heard of it. I appreciated that Emmalyn welcomed people of all faith backgrounds, but when she included African drumming, I had some serious doubts and wondered if this were something I should be involved in. But it has been a huge blessing and I was hoping to take it up again on a more regular basis, until my friend didn’t answer her phone.
There is, of course, scriptural authority for dance, as you probably know including perhaps the most well known from Ecclesiastes 3:4 “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;” I hope and pray that Kathy still has time to dance. Or you may be from an even stricter background that disapproves of dance altogether. I understand. I just finished my MBA in 2012 at Point Loma Nazarene. And the male profs there were fond of saying, “Don’t drink, don’t dance and don’t go with girls that do.”
Not into the spiritual realm? Fine. Take the words of Steve Jobs who wasn’t either, but he said, “Don’t wait.” And went on to say, “Time is all you have.” I often tell my students this. Time is all we have. And you can either invest it or waste it. The choice is yours.
What about you? When was the last time you took the time to do something that brings you joy and didn’t fret about what you should have been doing.
Sometimes I can’t remember when or even how, but then I get nostalgic – as often happens in September. Tomorrow would have been my husband’s 69th birthday. He passed away when he was 50, but he’d lived much longer than anyone expected. He was diagnosed when he was 29 with the disease that would kill him.
The day after his birthday, the 17th, would have been our 49th anniversary. Actually, we were legally separated for many years before he finally filed for divorce, but both decisions were largely for financial reasons. And, besides, you never really stop loving your first love. He stole my heart. And, then, too, he is the father of my children. No one will ever replace him in my life. And with the softening of time, I only remember him in the fondest of ways.
We met when I was just 15. And we married the day after he turned 20 because he didn’t want to be a teen-ager when he got married ;) We had our son a few years later, but not before people began to tease us. Why folks thought our childbearing was their business I don’t know, but we both came from large families and were quite sure that we wanted some time together before the babies came. And then we only had two. We talked about three, but I had a miscarriage very shortly after my second daughter was born and that – I don’t know – kind of make me think.
I’ll leave you with another favorite of mine. A quote from William Purkey,
“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening…”
