A Special Valentine's Gift

Our newspaper is soliciting stories of the best Valentine's Day gift ever received. Well, even though my sweetie has remembered me with roses, dinner dates, and other fabulous romantic gestures, he has never painted a heart in the sky with the small plane that he flies. Wouldn't that be great!

However, the story that I am submitting is the Valentine's Day gift I received from my 87-year old father-in-law who at the time was living in AZ in an assisted living facility. He sent me on yellow-lined paper, which is all he had access to at the time, a Valentine message mentioning my Sicilian grandfather, whom I adored, who passed away a few years earlier. I was so touched by the sensitivity shown by that gesture. Poppy died a few years later, but the memory of that special Valentine lives on in my heart.

Transplant Games

At the beginning of the year is a good time to reflect on what we want out of life, what was most satisfying to us in the past.

In that vein, I was attempting to declutter my office when I ran across old photos from my volunteering days with the National Kidney Foundation. My brother, Charles, died of kidney disease two weeks before his 16th birthday. I got involved when I interviewed a lady with NKF, who turned out to be a good friend, Norma Cherniss, on the talk show I produced and co-hosted several years ago.

Through Norma, I eventually became Public Relations Director and served on the National Kidney Foundation Board for several years, in addition to chairing one of their major benefits, The Great Chefs of Orange County, where we raised $40,000.

Another memorable opportuniy I had as a volunteer with them was when I participated in the 1992 Transplant Games, a bienniel Olympic-style event for organ transplant recipient athletes held at UCLA. It was the first year the National Kidney Foundation took on the management of this event, started in Texas in 1982. I formed a volunteer team from my workplace, AT&T, and we showed up and assisted in any way they needed us. I had the privilege of presenting a medal to a heart transplant recipient. That year there were 2,000 supporters.

Where else could kidney or heart transplant recipients get the opportunity to compete in say a 50-meter dash or swim the butterfly stroke across a 25-meter pool.

Since 1992, the games have been held in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Orlando, Louisville and Pittsburgh, growing significantly each time. In July, 2008, a record-breaking gathering of 7,000 people, 1,200 of whom were transplant athletes from all 50 states converged in Pittsburgh, competing in

13 different sport competitions.

This program was started to demonstrate to the public the successes of the life-restoring therapy of organ transplantation and to call attention to the need for organ donation. It gave recipients and their families a chance to gather and share experiences, kindle friendships, and celebrate their "ultimate second chance" at life while paying tribute to those who make it all possible--the donor families. You can get more information on the games and/or the kidney foundation here.

P. S. I know, I know, the hair...what was I thinking?

Holiday Entertainment

Mary Poppins and Avatar in 3D...can't beat that entertainment for the holidays.

Even though I was sitting in the balcony at the Ahmanson, I thoroughly enjoyed Mary Poppins. I have to admit, being exhausted from rehearsals, traffic, etc, over the prior month, I had trouble staying awake through the first act;
I thought it was a little too long. However, there are so many talented people in the cast, many coming straight from the Broadway production. Ashley Brown, who originated the role on Broadway, and has won many awards for doing so, was superb as Mary. Gavin Lee as Bert originated the role in London and New York and likewise has been honored with many awards.

Things really moved fast in the second act, and there were some pretty amazing special effects, which I won't spoil for you if you plan to see it anywhere in the area sometime soon. Can never get enough of supercalifr...well, you know.

Avatar was something else! This was a very visually pleasing movie to watch. Okay, I had to hide my eyes once, but I'm such a scaredy-cat. Being a lavender lover, I relished the scenes with the beautiful flowers. The characters were riveting to watch. I couldn't believe it went by so fast. And you can understand when you hear it was one of the most expensive movies ever made: the special effects, animation. Watching it in 3D was such a pleasure. This was a great story.
I do believe its chances for an Oscar or two or three are good.

When we left the theater, I was amazed to see how many people were lined up to see Sherlock Holmes. Even if Guy Ritchie tries to turn Sherlock into a James Bond-like character as the critics claim, the trailer makes it seem appealing.

I just heard it was the biggest Hollywood box-office weekend ever. I can see why. I'd also like to see Blind Side.

Holiday Show

Haven't posted for awhile now...too busy with rehearsals for the show that my acting coach wrote. It's been loads of fun. Several new cast members have joined since our '06 show. Marvin the Menace, the bad elf, is the same, however. Mean as ever, but there are surprises in store. Everyone has a heart, really.

Love the song I sing, "My Simple Christmas Wish," as Glinda, the Good Witch. I was lucky enough to meet the man behind the clever lyrics and great song...David Friedman last year when he was visiting from the Big Apple. He and Kathie Lee Gifford work on several projects together. I believe they wrote a children's opera together.

Hope your holidays are going well. I'm really getting into the decorating spirit this year. The photo is from our first show in 2005. What a cast!

Good service

We always hear about the times we get poor service, particularly when dining out. Today, Julie blew us away! We only eat in this seafood restaurant about two or three times a year, because we only go to it when we're in the area. It's almost always busy.

Our last visit was perhaps two months ago. When Julie waited on us, she said, "Do you want the carmelized salmon again?" I looked at her in astonishment. (I did remember that she had waited on us the last time, but we didn't have a particularly chatty time then).

She didn't let it go at that. "Would you like to start with the shrimp cocktail appetizer too?" Again, my mouth dropped open. "Coffee to drink." The last time was the first time Julie had ever waited on us.

While we were waiting for our food, I remembered that we had a long wait because we got there mid lunch hour. I was just thinking that when she brought our food and said, "Better service than last time, huh? I was embarrassed the last time because it took so long," she said.

I just looked at her...she said, "I just have a good memory." Really!!

I just hope Julie gets incredible tips. There has to be some special reward for

that gift. Yea, we did our part.

Now, she had left one of those cards to fill out, asking for our email address for special coupons. I never fill those out. I'm already bombarded with Border's, etc., well, I do like some coupons. But, since Julie's name was on the bottom, and I'm sure she gets some kind of credit for this, I went ahead and filled out the form. Well, at least I'll get some kind of a discount for my birthday. It's the least I could do for that extraordinary service today.

Btw, I had mahi mahi today, just for a change. The next time I think I'll ask for Julie's station. I never can make up my mind on the menu. "Just bring me the usual."

Healthy and Green Living

There is a newsletter for which I signed up after a friend sent me an article from it. Care2 covers the gamut from healthy and green living, natural remedies, healthy mind, relationships and sexuality, garden and nature, pets, etc. Once you see all the topics they cover, you can personalize it to match your interests.

In almost every issue, I find myself reading at least one topic, more likely, two.
Today it was detoxing. The article covered all aspects of the subject. Personally, I've always thought it was a good idea, but I could never commit to a nine or ten-day detox program. The idea of doing a juice fast for even one day seems like a big deal to me. Maybe I'll try detox tea; that seems the easiest to follow.

But, the jury is still out on all the studies, there's no evidence that it's really necessary to maintain/achieve good health. Some doctors swear by it, though, judging by the improvement in their patients.

Enlightenment

I'm one who doesn't believe that spirituality and religion are necessarily mutually exclusive. This quote from "Why Walk When You Can Fly" by Isha (New World Library, 2008) hit home with me.

We often compromise our truth by playing small in order to make others feel better about themselves. We don't do what we really want to because we are afraid of losing approval, but enlightenment never compromises its own greatness.

My actor friend, Billy, had this quote at the bottom of his emails, which is another version of the same message:

"Your playing small does not serve the world."