Dancing Queen

I'm not much of a dancer. I  never dreamed of being a ballerina or tap dancer. Never asked for lessons at all.

One day, in grade four, my class went to gym class expecting another boring day of volleyball or other such exercises. Surprise, surprise. We were having a dance lesson for the next few classes.

Folk dancing. We had to practice our routine of the Hora, which I think is a Jewish dance and then there was the Dance Of The Seven Veils. The Hora went well and I found that I actually enjoyed dancing. I loved going around in a circle holding hands with all the other girls and kicking out our legs.

The Dance Of The Seven Veils was a bit of a challenge emotionally. The boys gym class got a hold of what we were doing, which was taking off seven veils one by one. I'm assuming that this is a middle eastern dance and it's incredibly sexy done by an adult.

It was traumatizing to have rows of boys cheering whenever we took a veil, really a scarf, out of our sweaty gym shorts. We protested. But back then it was boys will be boys and they got to stay and torment us. We adjusted after the teacher told us to ignore them.

It was all so silly. To think it threatening to have boy looking at us in our gym clothes. But I guess kids can be silly so it's okay.

Back to the point, if they had kept dancing classes in the physical education system, I might have learned how to dance. But these two dances were the end of teaching us 'culture'. I suppose I have a bunch of obstreperous boys to thank for my two left feet. I'm glad I enjoy walking.

Dog Swim

Well, for now, the snow has stopped falling. The temperatures are rising. I'm hopeful that this time, unlike last time, spring will finally peek it's head up from the ground and lay claim to the land.

I've felt a bit sorry for dog walkers in the downtown. It must have been awful to have to dress up to take the dog out to look after the calls of nature. Trying to make one's way through 24 centimeters of the white stuff doesn't sound fun. Now the sidewalks are clear, it's looking like the dog-walking is becoming friendly. And of course, no more stuff that melts the snow of sidewalks but reacts harshly to dog's paws.

I used to take my dog, Cindy, to the beach when I was a girl. I still remember those as good times. When I see dogs out, I feel a bit sorry that there's no water park for dogs so they can swim. A lot of dogs love to swim.

Everybody has something they would do if they had a lot of money, with me, it's putting up a dog water park. I know, what about people? But people love their dogs and I think would love a park where their dogs can get wet and have a good time. I would have a pool and just a splashing area for the dogs.

Of course, it's all just a pipe dream. I would have to get permission from the city and then there's the sanitary stuff. It really is too bad that Ottawa is landlocked and has no ocean. Although, I have seen people at the beaches letting their dogs swim downstream of where the people swim. I don't see a problem with that.

Well, it'll have to stay a fond dream for the moment. I don't expect to be making lots of money soon. Cheers.

A Journey To Belief

Religion can be a touchy subject. Many feel that it has been misused and I suppose that's true, but whether God exists or not has nothing to do with organized religion. I say this because I've met many atheists who point to discrepancies in the Bible as their reason for not believing in God.

As very young children, my family lived in eastern Canada, Quebec to be specific. There, under the influence of my father's relatives, we went to Catholic Church. Later, when we made the move to White Rock, BC, church was dropped, my mother and grandparents being atheists.

I don't know my grandfather's reason but my grandmother said that she didn't like religion as a child because they didn't like dancing. She loved dancing and when she got older, she would sneak out her window to go to gypsy camps and dance. This was in England around 1900.

Then WWI came and my grandmother used to meet the soldiers coming home all injured. She would give them coffee or write to their loved ones for them. She didn't see why God would let something like WWI happen at all. Any remaining faith disappeared from her heart.

That was my influence and for years I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of God. But when I got out to Ontario, I started to re-think it. There were studies of people sick in the hospital who, when prayed for, got better. Imagine. And then there's the thought that all that we see is just chance. Well, maybe. But it does seem to me that there's intelligent design somewhere in the mix.

But I don't go to organized church. One thing I took away from my mother was the ability to think things through myself. Jesus was born a man, right? Why? So I thought about it and decided that if Jesus had been known as a God people would have treated him well and not given him any problems.

So he was born a man so he could go through all the trials and tribulations that we do, but since he is born of God, he can tell us the most spiritual way to deal with those troubles. So it seems to me.

My belief in God came after lots of thoughts but I find it more satisfying than atheism which can't really do anything for the heart, because if we're not supposed to work on being good and spiritual to each other, than it's going to be a very dreary world to live in.

Amen.