SATURDAY - 8 Hours Out and About

I spent the morning doing some housework and since I slept in a bit the morning went rather quickly. I didn't have breakfast and I really didn't feel for eggs and bacon for a brunch...I decided to satisfy a craving I was having for BLTs. I use low calorie bread and turkey bacon so it didn't hurt my diet....was delicious!!

Dorothy called and told me that Mass was at 4:00 and since they like to go early and get good seats they would be picking me up at 3:30. Well that makes for a short afternoon as I needed to shower and get dressed and put a face on. I wore the outfit that Dorothy's sister Reba's daughter gave me. Boy did that make Reba happy.

They picked me up for Mass and I was a bit scared. I have not been to Mass in over 30 years. As we were going in, I saw a lot of people I knew...the church is in my little town of 800 people. The looks of surprise to see me were pretty funny. I entered the church...blessed myself with holy water and then just about everything after that was different then what I remembered. I have to say though that I like all the changes. I liked Mass being in English...and they provide a book for you to follow along. I like how we parishioners participate in the Mass. I liked the priest...he was very friendly and down to earth. Again I felt that feeling of belonging...something I have never really experienced in church before. When we got to the car the ladies asked how I liked it..and I told them I was pleasantly surprised over the whole experience. They said great...now you can come with us every week. There was that feeling of belonging again.. LOL

We headed over to Maurice's house for Pizza. It seems he had won this huge home made pizza at the Adults Center and he had it in his freezer because it was too big for just him. It was just right for the 5 of us...it was huge and so delicious. He showed us around his beautiful home while the pizza was cooking. He is a clock maker and does other woodworking projects like cabinets and shelving. After the pizza we had Monkey Cake that Theresa made and we had to sample Maurice's cookies so we were pretty stuffed. He showed us pictures of him and his wife and then he brought out a Christmas present a relative had given him. Krissy you wuld have loved it. It was made up of printed copies of scrapbooking pages of photographs of his family....like a family tree in picture form...everything dated and everyone named. It was truly wonderful...something every family should have.

Now it was time for the ride to the dance. It was raining but that didn't dampen our spirits. We climbed into Maurice's car and we were off. He had a tape of beautiful instrumental dance music. Really set the mood. On the way we stopped for a minute and from the car we saw a farm that has Emus and Llamas. Maurice called them Ostriches but I am pretty sure they were Emus.

When we arrived at the dance the band was set up and many people were already there. Again a lot of familiar faces...I said to our group...I don't know why we don't get a bus and all go together LOL. As the place filled up though I did see many people I didn't know...we were 13 miles from home and I am sure they were people from that area but they were very friendly and everyone intermingled nicely. We thought since it was Senior Citizens the dance was going to be from 7:00 to 9:00 or 10:00 but it turned out it was 7:00 to 11:00. It started off a bit boring as there didn't seem to be any women dancing together and we didn't want to start it. There were a lot of men at this dance but they were all paired off. They did dance with other women but it was women in their little group..kinda exchanged partners. After about an hour or so we did see one woman dance with another woman and that's all it took...other women started to dance together too.

I noticed a big difference in my legs. When we first started dancing my legs felt weak and rubbery but last night they felt strong. On one of the dances I had with Maurice he asked me why I wouldn't square dance. I told him because I didn't know how and I didn't want to mess other people up. He said well that is the only way you are going to learn and they won't mind. He asked me if I would do the next square dance with him.. I said I would like to try. When we entered the group he told them I was new at it and they were just wonderful about it. I made some goofs and it got us all laughing...it was so much fun!!

We heard the story about Maurice. His wife died about 2 years ago and he had to go into counseling as he couldn't stop crying. His therapist advised him to join Senior Citizens and he did that about a year ago and it changed his life. It looks like he is smitten with Dorothy's sister Reba who also lost her spouse 2 years ago. She has had a rough 2 years..lost her husband, lost her foster daughter (disabled), recovering from cancer, had to have a total hysterectomy, and then not long ago had knee surgery. She walks with a cane and you should see how he takes such good care of her...it is so sweet. She is adamant about not having another man in her life in one breath and then in the next she says to me...he is such a nice man isn't he?? LOL

I had another evening of feeling like I belonged. I am getting more comfortable with the ladies and Maurice. More comfortable with the people at the dance who are now talking to me...they include me in their welcome when we arrive and their good byes when they or we leave. I think that I am moving along better than I expected in my Search for a New Life.

We had a wonderful time dancing and we stayed till almost the end...left at 10:45. Maurice drove us safely to his house and we said our thank yous and goodbyes and climbed into Theresa's car for the ride home. I got in at 11:30. Watched one CSI program to unwind and headed to bed. Read a chapter and then lights out.

Hope you all have a great day!