The new year just started and Im too excited not too share... This girl is finally gonna get back into taking some ballet classes... whoop whoop!!!!   Looks like I'm gonna be sore for the next couple of weeks...   =P

 The morning after Christmas I went on facebook to learn that an old friend had past away the night before. She went to the ER Christmas morning and had multiple surgeries for a torn aorta...  I met her in high school- we took dance classes together and she went on to teach some of them. She was much older than me, in her late to mid thirties at the time.  She was always a positive person, very kind hearted. Even though I was a 'kid' back then, she wasnt the type of person who would talk to me like I was a kid. We were peers.... She was the kind of person that didnt judge you.  I'd only seen her a handful of times since I graduated, when I'd pop in and try to take the occassional ballet class.  I always thought I was out of whack, since I had been gone for a while but she was ALWAYS very encouraging & reassured me that I still had it.  

She was a religious person, but she wasnt the type of person who threw it in your face. I learned because I looked up a song that she frequently played in jazz warm ups-- its the video above--- I thought it was a catchy song it never occurred to me that it was 'Jesus music'.   Through her I learned that Christian music could be good.  I later learned that she was also active with liturgy dance....

Thanks to facebook we were able to keep in touch.  She was often times one of the first people to comment on my pictures of the kids.  After hearing of her death, I posted some videos of the kids and she wasnt there to comment.....

I wish that I was better at keeping in touch and wish that I saw her more often, she really was an amazing person. She certainly will be missed by MANY.

Her funeral was today- two people danced in her honor, it was hard not to tear up. They ended the service with the hymnal "I danced in the morning'- its one of my favorite church songs- and let me tell you, it was rough, its one of the songs that I actually sing in church (i lipsync most) and I couldnt manage to sing it...    

She was very active with the Hope For Life Animal Rescue and was ALWAYS posting links on facebook of the different animals that were up for adoption, I will try to carry that on in her honor and hope to get back to dancing in one way or another---  back in the day dance was my sanctuary, and she always proved to me that you can never be to old....