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Showing posts from October 21, 2010

Magical moment 265, "Wedding Shoes"

Photography by  Frank Ekeler Today I unwrapped a cardboard box filled with packing peanuts and tissue paper. I dumped it all over my carpet, fishing for the one thing I knew would be in there...my wedding shoes. When I got married 3 1/2 years ago in Lincoln, NE, I left my dress and shoes with my parents while I continued to travel all over the country with the Soldier Show after the wedding. Only recently, my mother has finally gotten around to digging them out of her closet and shipping them to me. While most women who get married are stoked about their dress, my favorite thing about my wardrobe that day was my shoes. Because I was touring with the Soldier Show while planning my wedding, I had little to no free time to shop around for a dress. One day, the director of the show announced that he was making a run to a near by mall in Virginia, so I hopped on board. Amazingly enough, I found a formal wear store and tried on 2 or 3 dresses until I found one that fit. It wasn't e

Magical Moment 264, "A Brave Leaf"

" A Brave Leaf"  by Elizabeth Grimes A little boy walked home from school. Summer was gone, the air was cool. The leaves were still green though, all but one. Its vibrant color stood out like the sun. He waived goodbye to his friends at the door, Then remembered with guilt what happened before. They’d teased another, called him some names. Now all alone, he felt so ashamed. He knew it was wrong, but what could he do? If he walked away, he’d be laughed at too. But he made a choice right there in his room That starting tomorrow, a new him would bloom. He was kind to that boy, stood by his side. And together a fortress in which to confide. Soon others took notice, and joined the two. Now there were many against mean crew. Walking home, the boy noticed the trees. There weren’t just one, but dozens of bright leaves! The boy thought, “Hmm. Isn’t that strange? It only took one for that whole tree to change.” Photo from  http://thesmittenimage.blogspot.com/

Magical Moment 263, "Out of Tune Piano"

I went back and listened to this 4-month old video from the Play Me, I'm Yours Project in Queens, and although I like this song, all I could hear was an out of tune piano! Beautifully painted however and it was a lovely day, so I guess that adds some cheeriness to the video. I wrote this song, " You Want Me ," oh who knows? Maybe 2004 or 2005? Thought it was catchy so I hung onto it. Hope you enjoy the video! To see photos from the Play Me, I'm Yours Project, click here . To see more videos click here . "You Want Me" words and music by Elizabeth Grimes, Copyright 2009

Magical Moment 262, "Run the Race"

Early this morning, Eddie and I took our place behind orange road cones and waited for the words, “Runners take your marks, get set…GO!” We attended the 5k at Llewellyn Park in West Orange, NJ, a gorgeous, historical gated residential community and former home of Thomas Edison. I went with little motivation, expecting nothing more than a leisurely jog through the beautiful, autumn scenery. But no sooner than the first corner, I discovered this would be more difficult than anticipated. Almost immediately, the route took us to a near 45-degree hill that stretched for at least half a mile, something I was not prepared for. It was then that I had to decide to either tackle it and give it my all, or simply run with little effort, as originally intended. I decided to go for it. After the first hill, I reasoned there would be more, and began mentally preparing for them. They could come at any second, just around the next turn. Hills have a way of either crushing a runner’s spirit, or prop

Magical Moment 261, "lol :)"

I’m not a huge “texter.” My phone is still the cheap-o, free one that came with our plan four years ago. I don’t abbreviate my sentences down to acronyms, or substitute a “2” for a “too.” But I do text my husband a lot (not while driving though, I promise!). Once a week, when I play piano for nearly 7 hours straight at the ballet school (a job I absolutely adore ), I find a few seconds in between songs to either read or send a text to Eddie. After hours on a wooden bench with minimal food, water, and bathroom breaks, a text can relieve some of the monotony. If you were to read the texts between Eddie and I, you would think we were either hopelessly romantic, or clinically insane. Sometimes it will be an elaborately written out lyric that’s been going through one of our head’s all day, “Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa Poker face.” And answered with an exuberant, “CAN’T READ MY, CAN’T READ MY, NO HE CAN’T READ MY POKER FACE!” And followed up with an, “I HATE that song!” In the Army, during lon

Magical Moment 260, "Sentimental Journey"

"Sentimental Journey" has been my favorite song since I was 14. I never heard it before my piano teacher, Mr. Capps , taught it to me. He explained that it was a staple, a necessity, and it was the very first song that I learned to play a boogie-woogie left hand to. I immediately loved the melody and searched for a recording of the song so I could learn the words also. My mom found a CD called Songs that got us through World War II , with Doris Day singing her  incomparable   rendition .  That's when I learned what an important song "Sentimental Journey" truly was throughout the 1940's. I began playing it at every nursing home, retirement home, and of course every weekend at Lee's Restaurant . I wish now that I had documented the number of times that someone, usually an elderly person, approached me with a personal story or memory brought on by that song. Once I played it on an old, upright piano at a World War II museum and soon attracted a crowd of

Magical Moment 259, "Proposals, Secrets, and Men's Bathrooms"

I’ve written about Eddie quite a bit – how we met, fell in love , and got married against military regulation. But I’ve never told the story of how he proposed. We only dated for 2 months, but I knew the day was a comin’ and just wondered how and when he would ask. I was his supervisor in the Army and we were keeping our relationship a secret due to the Officer/Enlisted fraternization policy in the Army, forbidding anything but professional relationships between the two grades. Eddie recently got a traffic citation for speeding and talking on his cell phone, and as a result, had to attend a sort of military-stop-class for the next four Saturdays. As his supervisor, and his girlfriend, I knew all about this. However, my Platoon Sergeant who also was one of Eddie’s supervisors, approached me with the sincere desire to help out one of his troops, Eddie (or Sergeant Grimes as we’ll call him in this story).  “Ma’am,” my Platoon Sergeant said, “We have a real problem with Sergeant Grimes