I was going to write about something lighter today, the chuckly war stories shared amongst people who have experienced the horror of knee surgery.  But, leave it to Oprah to get me off-track. Watching her special on Martin Luther King and his impact on our world today made me think about issues beneath my emotional epidermis.  The Gee’s Bend segment picqued my interest as I love those darned quilts the locals produce.  But the portion of the program that really got my attention was the story on the Lovings case and interracial marriage.  I didn’t need to be told the difficulties of romantic relationships black and white as I experienced it at way too tender an age. In days of yore when panther shirts and Twiggy cum Pat Benatar haircuts were rule of law, I had a not so little crush on the cappucino boy bander with a penchant to give me morning maple cream sticks. (Creamsticks are an irresistible Midwestern delicacy worth a whole post of their own, trust me!) 

Back to Oprah’s interracial segment…it brought back the pain of being under society’s microscope with my childhood romance, faced by a sea of people who didn’t know us but nevertheless passed judgement and were concerned about my lilly white social standing.  I loved Lance, a hilarious, warm-hearted national honors student; well as much as a 14-year old can who is in marching band, wears leg warmers and passes notes in study hall.  But the experience of having our relationship revealed by cold-war worthy spies, running into opposition we couldn’t overcome despite his articulate pleas and having to give up him (a first love I so cherished) changed me and my heart forever.  It ripped the shiny, happy veneer off the whole world, taught me that elders aren’t always wise and put me square in the path of pain and inequity.

I lived life my sophomore year of high-school through his eyes and that of his forefathers and mothers. It wasn’t pretty and I’m not sure it’s ever left the depths of my soul. It did however give me a lasting appreciation and deep-gut fire to fight for the equal rights of society’s less equal. I’ve often wondered what would have come of us if we would have been permitted to date like normal footballers and cheerleaders (OK geeky debaters and first-chair saxophone players)  Remarkably, we were pretty darned compatible and chemistry-laden. An answer was not to be, which is probably better given our combined nappy hair quotient.

The good news? Lance and I have survived over twenty years of tumult to be fabulous friends and joke that we will still be trading sarcastic barbs and stories of youth (if our memories hold) in the nursing home. Perhaps fate will have the last laugh. I thank and celebrate him for sticking by me and us through thick, thin, my pain-soaked attempts to shut him out and the driveway screaming and dissapproval imposed by others.  For those in the know, two words- Depeche Mode. We are bound forever by love found, love lost and lasting friendship - our own little interracial tragi-comic E! True Hollywood Story. And I feel positive we both smile as we look at the 50-year old ebony and ivory couple in the Belden Village Friendlys “Loving”ly sharing the sundae spoon, knowing that in time, everyone comes around to the right way of thinking. 

I have a dream and it is no longer a nightmare. 

TLRG

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Before starting the new year fresh, it’s common practice to put forth the best and worst list for the year that was.  My 2007 was such a masterful, chaotic mish-mash of both good and misfortune that I’m not quite sure where to begin.  But because I like a challenge, here’s my best shot.

BEST

Movie: Sweeny Todd, A Life Apart: Hasidism in America

Book: Mao, The Untold Story - Jung Chang and John Halliday

Music: Lilly Allen, Celine Dion Live at Caesars and the Music and Lyrics Soundtrack (Hugh Grant singing like George Michael, need I say more?) 

Old friends familiar with my once oh so American’s Next Top Model lithe physique will be happy to know that last year was one of whittling… down. I jazzercised and ran my little but off until I was once again within a 10 pound shot of what I said I really weighed on my driver’s license.  I did this through strict math genius adherence to Weight Watchers points and keeping my New Year’s resolution of running at least one road race a month. I was thrilled by October to be keeping up with the cute pony-tailed blond cross country stars 20 years my junior.  I also switched jobs in 2007 with an extended summer recess in between during which I delighted in doing nothing but watching the Style Network, vintage clothes shopping and taking care of my man with whom I’m still ever so besotten.  The switch in occupation took years off of my haggard face and drained psyche and I’m happy to report my cheeks are once again rosy and business is booming!   

Domo Arigato Japan!  I got the once in a lifetime opportunity to tour for three weeks in Japan to places both modern and ancient.  From Mijajima to Mitsokoshi, the land and people proved magical… that is save a rainy day mountain hike complete with the wrong shoes and attack monkeys.  A karmic trip to Hiroshima, the coordinates where my grandfather had accompanied the bomb sixty years earlier, was an incredible, gut-wrenching and all-together essential experience.  Check out our pics of Nikko and Nippon at http://www.nosilver.org. Like Godzilla, Tokyo is my favorite place on the planet, although the bite I took out of it was a bit smaller and less filled with concrete. 

2007 was also the year I got some religious mojo back. Faith is a funny thing and has waned in years past as life disappointments and emotional debris piled up. I made a concerted effort to open my heart a bit last year and let some positive kernels of knowledge and hope flood in.  I have to credit technology and America’s super-pastor Joel Osteen in part for this, as Joel’s weekly Podcasts really touched my heart and laid the groundwork to rethink religion.  Can he be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?  Experiencing the karmic connection and every day miracles with my Charlie Brown didn’t hurt either.  What I learned was that God is always watching over you and he’ll inject as many miracles into your life as you can handle. I can’t wait to see what 2008 holds. 

And speaking of miracles, I was blessed this year by a baby… no silly, not my own of course but my cousin’s.  It was incredible to experience pregnancy and the gift of life with someone to whom you are so close. As far as I’m concerned, baby boy Jonah should be the star of all Pampers and baby food commercials because he is the cutest little thing in the universe. His mom and dad are pretty amazing as well. 

WORST

Movie: The War, Ken Burns (I love Burns and thought his Civil War documentary was rapturous but the War was too overhyped, uneven and PC)

Book: The Yiddish Men’s Policemen’sUnion by Michael Chabon (I thought I would read anything Chabon wrote until this snoozer with forced narrative)

Music: Blackout, Britney Spears (Yes, Gimme More is on my playlist but the other tracks are wasted with her vocals barely a hushed, tired whisper) 

Those of you who read TLRG know it’s not my nature to accentuate the negative but the ground of one 2008 tragedy must be covered: the train wreck otherwise known as my ravaged knee. High on the race-against-the-clock victory  I had just experienced at the Kansas City Waddel and Reed 5K, I traveled to Philadelphia in October and summarily hurt myself in a train station mishap during which my knee became much too intimate with the marble floor. Many weeks of pain and a diagnosis of a torn meniscus later, I faced the knife no not a mini-face lift but for my knee.  I have been rehabbing on crutches and going without many things (walks, nookie, showers, you name it) for almost a month. It is challenging but I can’t wait to run (or heck walk or scamper) again soon. All the aches and inconvenience does however have an upside, time to nest and make a home with my honey in Kansas City.  This Christmas, unlike the normal traveling mayhem, I have memories of cozying down on the couch with my kitty and man watching marathons of Food Network favorites.  If I never had tragedy befall me, how would I know how to build a replica of the New York skyline with only breakfast cereal and a blow torch? I’m quite sure I’ll be able to apply that knowledge… sometime. 

As I close, I look ahead to 2008 with eager thoughts of once again running like the wind and traveling to Europe’s most beautiful hideaways and to Jerusalem’s Old City. I’ll have more tales to tell than Anthony Bourdain. I promise to blog it all.  My wishes for a fabu new year for all!

Love,TLRG

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