Dear Reader:

The other day (on the blog) we were talking about taking the initiative to design the life we wanted to live… well, the best way to do that is to “craft our life from daydreams.”

Yesterday morning…that is just what I did. Daydream…

I woke up around 7:00 ready to go….it had been such a fun night before… dancing at the VFW ….Jackson and I collapsed when we got in…Brooke and Libby stayed up and caught up over chicken salad and pimento cheese.

Everyone was still sleeping soundly yesterday morning after I awoke…so I got dressed, ate some pimento cheese on a slice of bread for breakfast…and went outside where Jackson has set up some chairs on her side patio….the sun was shining but it was actually “coolish” at that time in the morning…Yes…even in Columbia.

I found myself closing my eyes and remembering all the fun from the night before…and it was that daydream that became the catalyst to take me back in time to the old Erskine college days.

As we all got ready Friday night…we started asking each other how this or that looked, or should we wear another outfit, or could we borrow some accessory…necklace, bracelet, scarf….whatever to enhance our Motown/Beach Music attire.

I remember stopping to listen to the excited chattering…and suddenly I was back in the dorms at Erskine but this time we were all young college girls again….heading out to Starnes.…(which was the dancing/drinking mecca closest to Erskine…in Greenwood.)

We have certainly aged…but the excitement Friday night was still the same….(actually this early photo was of the night we decided to go “honky-tonking.”)

(L to R)

Libby, me, Brooke, and Jackson

We kinda look like we have all lost our best friends…but actually we were going for the sexy, sultry look…the daydreams of youth.

(L to R) Me, Jackson, Brooke, and Libby….our hair has all gone “lighter” while the rest of us…well, hasn’t. But, never mind, we were ready to party!

When we arrived…the room was pretty packed….but the lead singer, Kimmie, had her mother save a special table for us near the band…(because Ben had told them we were coming.) We felt like celebrities…

The problem was….when Ben and some of the other band members made a call-out for single men…no one came forward…it ended up that there were only two single men there….and “Bless their hearts” the four of us danced them into an early grave most likely….

Jackson has this funny magnet on her frig (see below) that says: “Life is too short to dance with ugly men”-Oscar Wilde)…but we decided at our age…if a man is breathing and can shuffle his feet…we will accept any offer and then just dance all around him….and that is what we did.

At intermission…the Ben Barbour “groupies” were “honored” to have our photo taken with the coolest guitar player around.

I think what finally took us under and reminded us that we were no longer those young college girls… were the line dances…*Because there were a lot more single women than men…the band figured they would add more line dances so everyone could step out on the dance floor.

If they played the “Electric Slide” one time…they played it ten times…and, on one occasion,  I decided to follow suit and join Libby and Brooke in one of them…I should have noticed that they had disappeared from the dance floor after several minutes because this dance just wouldn’t end….Little old ladies, however, with a decade or more age on me….were hanging tight…and I was gasping for air (like a fish out of water)…I couldn’t swallow…but my pride wouldn’t let “Granny” (in front of me) outlast me.

I told Ben on the phone, yesterday, that the idea of including everyone in the line dances was fine…but they needed to look at the median age out there and cut those everlasting songs back to the original time intended..or the dancers were going to be falling like dominoes… I wasn’t sure if there were enough ambulances in the area to cover the fallen.

When we got home we ended up having the same discussion we have shared with each other several times now…especially since we all retired…we wouldn’t trade who we are and where we are now for those young girls back at Erskine (stepping over the starting line for the race of life) for anything.

Some episodes in life are only meant to be experienced once..they are too painful to repeat. We have all paid the piper with many of the “Top Ten Most Stressed Out Life Experiences” ….We have voluntarily pulled out of the race for life…and are content to now immerse ourselves in savoring the moment…not the race.

We have worked hard to get where we are today…strong, independent women who understand the top priorities in life- love, laughter, and friendship. As long as we have that…the daydreams of yesterday are the realities of today.

So until tomorrow….Let the children day-dream without admonishment…because they are learning creativity and imagination from within…and one day, if we’re really lucky, they become reality.

” Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Look what bloomed last evening!!!! ( It must have been waiting for me to come home)…I thought the vines were morning glory vines and then last evening…there it was! I had to do a little moon dance jig around the tree….

he Lovin Spoonful – Daydream (HQ) – YouTube