The dances...

   Tonight, Autumn kept asking me 'have you blogged yet?'...'when will you blog?'...finally, I asked her 'what do you want me to blog about?'...'the dances Daddy, the dances'...I asked her, Autumn, haven't I already done that?  She said, no, you wrote about your first kiss, but not the dances, Daddy, not the dances...please.

   Ok, so, the first dance, way back in 1976, our nation's bicentennial year, at Nitschmann Jr. High...the butterflies were real, eating at the lining of my stomach, as I waited in Kimmy's living room for her to finish gettng ready for our first dance.  My Dad had given me a ride to her house, that night, and was parked out front waiting for us to  emerge.
   Kim's Mom came out to apologize, telling me I was so patient, to be able to wait so long...and then, descending the stair case, here she came...in slow motion, Kim came around the corner of the last landing, eyes down, hair bouncing, in a dress from Heaven...and, again, in slow motion, as she hit the last stair, her eyes slowly came up and met mine, as I sat transfixed on the couch...and we locked...like lightning...
   We walked out to my Dad's waiting car, in the freezing cold, our breath plumes of vapor, and he gave us a ride to our school.  I couldn't dance fast dances, and I wasn't sure if Kim could or not ( she later told me she preferred not to), so, I huddled with friends, near the bleachers in our gymnasium, talking and anxiously awaiting a 'slow song'.  This typically was 'Stairway to Heaven' by Led Zepplin..and my wait was always rewarded...
     Kimmy always smelled so good, and I remember sinking my head into her hair as we embraced for our first slow song.  I had no idea what to do with my hands, so I improvised...!  It felt as though we were all alone in that gym that night...slowly spinning each other around, just holding on in a tight embrace...
      We went to all of the dances that year,  and danced at our 8th grade and 9th grade dances.  Our main, 9th grade dance, in 1979, was themed after Pink Floyd, The Wall.  I was a huge Pink Floyd fan and couldn't wait to see how they decorated.  I remember Bill Stauffer, who was on the decorating committee, actually got to go to N.Y. to see the Floyd perform The Wall live...I have been eternally jealous, even though Kimmy and I saw Pink Floyd three times in concert.  The decorating committee did a great job and Kim and I danced several slow songs, even though we were not dating at the time...
      In high school, we were able to go to one dance per year and snuck in at least one dance per event...after high school, when we were together and a good slow song came on when we were driving somewhere, we would pull over, get out of the car and slow dance wherever we had stopped...she was so good to dance with...
   
      Ok, so today was an interesting day...full of ups, and downs, which is no surprise.  I gave Kimmy's Mike Piazza jersey to Mary Montes, who's husband, Emilio, is a lifetime Dodgers fan...and he quizzed me.  'Ok, was Kim a Piazza fan, or did she just like the Dodgers?'.  I explained to Emilio that Kim's first Dodgers jersey that I bought her was Steve Sax...way before Piazza's time.  She actually always was a Tommy Lasorda fan, a Norristown, PA, native - where Piazza, Lasorda's Godson, was from, too.  We always made a point to get down to the Vet to see the Dodgers play the Phils and actually made it to a game at Chavez Ravine to see the Dodgers play the Rockies!!  What an incredible stadium!! Yep, even though Kimmy rooted for the Phil's, too, she still bled Dodgers Blue!  And Emilio was relieved to hear she wasn't one of 'those' fans, or a Piazza groupie!
       The bambini's did well...Tonio went to his friend Monsi's home and Lupe and Manny hooked us up with some tortillas from Estrella bakery and some donuts, too!!  Tonio had a blast.  After letting the kids play out front, we went over to Betsey and Brian's home...Hadley and Autumn put on a dance show for us and all of the kids had fun playing...
       I had made some chicken fingers for them before we went to the Deevers...thanks to Janene and Andrea for the help!  They came out delicious!!

              I used 2 cups of mayo with 1/4 cup of grated parm cheese - stirred that up good.
              Made a plate of Italian bread crumbs...
              Dipped boneless chicken strips in the mayo/parm mix and then in the breading.
              Place them on a cookie tray, in the oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 20 minutes and the kids loved them!! 
               For a side, I cut potatoes in half, dowsed them in olive oil and a punch of sea salt and, of course, pepper, and put them in the oven with the chicken.  I also made Italian green beans.

             Tomorrow is another day...going to take Cody biking at Fantasy Island...so good for him!  And, we'll move Kimmy's truck over to Fry's in the morning, too....
              Good night,
                        Love,
                                Dave