TrulyGrace

Heaven on Earth: A Second Life

When at a street fair in Philadephia this past month, I overheard someone saying, "And when dancers stop dancing...." referring to the second career of dancers after their oft-times truncated performing life is over. I turned to my friend Sara and said, "There's not a whole lot of us dancers who dance again after stopping. [and, as in explanation:] Now, my new hips let me dance again."

I know that my original acetabular structure should not have allowed me to dance--no, wait, to WALK. But I was able to dance (en pointe), run, hurdle, rockclimb, horseback ride, ski (downhill and nordic), do aikido (including taking high falls), and a multitude of other activities. It's a wonder that I could even walk (and I've been told that by others, too). I was blessed.

Then the structures became arthritic, and I am fortunate that I live in a time and place on this planet that I could get physical therepy, then subsequently obtain operations to "repair" my hips. I'm older now, and can't do most of the activities I mentioned that I could do fifteen or more years ago, due to limitations on my new bionic hips. But I'm doubly blessed, because I've been given a second chance on life. I can still walk. I can still dance. One of my friends calls my situation a "second life." And it is so. You hear people talk about Heaven as a place where there is no pain, and where one can dance and play like when younger, and where you are surrounded by people who love you. My, my, my, then: I am now living a Heaven on Earth! [*Pyuh, pyuh, may I not be jinxed*]

It reminds me of the song sung by Lee Ann Womack, "I Hope You Dance."

Labels: BAD, dance, exercise, love, music, Songs, surgery, walking

posted by Grace @ 11/01/2009 09:41:00 PM