Incidentally, I highly recommend you visit her site, the link to which you will find below. Her work is quite amazing. I have added my own touches to the rest of the page but the focal point of this page is entirely her brainchild and expertise. I am a rank amateur in comparison. I do not as a rule avail myself of the no right click function on my site but the fact that Shari is a designer and her work is not available to be copied freely indicates I am honour bound to do so on this page.

And now, on to indulging myself in the memories and recollections an old lady accumulates through the years. I do this at times these days, but try to keep in mind that they are my memories and may bore the heck out of my readers so bear with me, this page is for my husband who is now in failing health and could use a smile or two.  I admit I'm being selfish here as well. Getting old is not always easy and remembering when we were young is a welcome respite at times from the worries which accompany ageing. Remembering how life seemed so easy when we were young particularly when what we considered tragedy at the time fades over time into a much less onerous memory can be a welcome relief.

Even little things like hearing Beyonce's beautiful rendition of "At Last" for the Obama's first dance this past week had much the same effect. How I miss the music of our youth ! I know each generation have their own tastes and preferences but when we were young music was a huge part of our lives and  the lyrics and melodies were infinitely more meaningful than the 'music' of today. It was admittedly a gentler time even though we had just come through a world war and things were not always easy. In my humble opinion we have lost a lot of the beauty in music today. We danced together, and dancing was infinitely more graceful and intimate. Rock and Roll was in its infancy and the art of dancing was still, for the most part, a means of two people communicating to music. We had our jive and fun dances as well but the soft ballad was always when you sought out the one you really cared to be with. Or, as the case might be, the better dancer among us.

In that category my husband had no peer among our friends. He was unquestionably the absolutely  best dancer I have ever been fortunate enough to have as a partner. He made you a much better dancer than you were simply because he was a natural. There were often times the competition to catch his eye before another girl did as a song began to play was quite a challenge. He wasn't a jock, he was quiet and unassuming but when there was a dance floor around he reigned supreme. Biased ? Me ? Nope. Stating a fact.

We spent hours sitting in a booth in our favourite hangout spending outrageous sums for those days  feeding coins into jukeboxes as we sipped our cokes and gathered with friends most evenings. One spot in particular right on the shores of Georgian Bay was favoured during the summer months because it had an area for dancing. If Les didn't happen to be there the dancing was not anywhere near as enticing but the music was always a perfect complement to the atmosphere.

Life does go on and as time passed we all went our separate ways. I married and had a son. Les married and had four children. We both moved on to new lives  and became only memories to one another. Neither of us had any idea where the other was or ever expected to see one another again.

The years passed and then fate intervened. And thanks to the internet believe it or not. We both have web sites. In the Christmas season of 1999 I was composing a page for my son and wanted the very best MIDI version of  "Blue Christmas" that I could find on the web. It was a song which had very special meaning to my son and I. I came across a perfectly beautiful version on a web site and wrote to the site asking permission to use it and giving my site address so the site owner could vet where the music would be used The site owner replied saying he had checked out my site and was more than pleased to grant permission for use of his music. He went on to ask if by any chance my maiden name had been Brown, which of course it was. I then noticed how he had signed the email.  Unbelievably it was Les ! My site has several family oriented pages and my Grandfather, whom I adored and who for the most part raised me, is prominently displayed here. Les had recognized him while perusing my site.

To make a long story short we exchanged further emails catching up on one another and  discovered we were now living less than a half hour apart near one of Canada's largest cities and were both widowed and alone. Here we were almost fifty years after our last meeting arranging to meet for coffee. We married in June of 2001.

My husband had another talent which made him quite unique. He was a superb musician and to this day I love listening to him play the piano or organ. Unfortunately these days those times are quite rare.  As I said, life is not always fair or easy. Several years ago, shortly after we married, he was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and his dancing days became a memory, then his playing as well became much less frequent until today it is for the most part a memory as well. His health is not good as we grow old together. Life does have its ironies. But it has its blessings as well. And some of its greatest blessings are surely our memories.