The Gentle Dance

I immediately said No thank you to the all staff email that went out about an event. My plan was already in place: get stuff done and relax -- so it was amusing when one of the coworkers who won tickets asked me if I wanted to go.

I am not trying to mimic Shonda Rhimes' Year of Yes but I am looking to shake things up (gently) and I like dance productions so I said Yes. Not going to lie. I really wanted to watch game six of the Oklahoma vs. Golden State NBA game.

Rolled out of bed on Saturday and met Alison for Zumba then met Rosie at Frida's Deli where I had the avocado toast. If social media is to be trusted, avocado toast is all the rage. I know, you can make avocado toast at home but this toast had grilled tomato, an Illinois farm egg and tarragon-orange avocado. I took a sip of Rosie's ginger drink and immediately ordered one. That ginger drink was intense but good.

Had a little downtime then headed out with my coworker to Voices of the Congo Square. The show clocked in at over three hours. The narration between the dance numbers was too long but, overall, I enjoyed the show and I'm interested in learning more about the Mardi Gras Indians and Jazz Funerals which I like the idea of since it sounds like a good ritual for mourning and celebrating...

Met Alison and Rosie for yoga this morning. After class Jennifer (new yoga buddy) and I started spontaneously and gently dancing. We'll chalk that up to the yoga high although, during class, I thought the slow in Slow Flow was equivalent to being killed softly. Joy was in a bit of a somber mood and I've heard that people teach what they need to learn sooooooooo.

On a completely different note, Alison emailed me on Saturday night to tell me that this woman who we've talked to in Zumba class posted on Facebook that she'd lost her five-month-old son. He died in his sleep. Alison also told me that her sister had set up a Go Fund Me account for funeral expenses.

Since it was late in the night, I decided to try to find the GFM page using keywords and was surprised by how many St. Louis Go Fund Me pages there are -- some frivolous but there was a lot of crowd funding pages for people who've fallen on hard times.

I told Alison how it still baffles me that some people get five months and others get 100 years.

*Mardi Gras Indians from "Voices of the Congo Square"

Catch A Fire (Reflective Friday)

A friend's sister died unexpectedly. And it is always unexpected, isn't it -- whether the person is eight or 80, ill or well?

As I was sitting in the chapel, I happened to be looking in the direction of my friend's daughter who's been away at college; I saw a smile alight on her face, catch fire then spread. Her father had just walked into the room and she followed him with her eyes and I could tell that she was eagerly waiting for him to finish a conversation with his siblings but it was so sweet; she could hardly stay seated.

I told my friend how her daughter's face lit up and she said it had been a while since she had seen her father.

All that to say, I hope that there's someone that makes you smile like that -- someone who makes your face catch a fire -- even in the midst of sorrow.