Nobody puts Baby in a corner....

Dear Readers,

I sat in my living room yesterday afternoon, totally consumed by abcFamily. “Why?” you ask??? Dirty Dancing was on TV!!!! I’ve always LOVED this movie (I mean, c’mon people, how could you NOT love watching Patrick Swayze shaking his hips?!?) and I seem to get drawn in every time it is on TV. I remember the hype the summer this movie came out in the theaters. 1987. I was 14 years old.

The first time I ever remember seeing Patrick Swayze was in The Outsiders (which also happens to be one of my favorite books!!!). I instantly swooned over this bigger than life bad boy!!! Holy moly was I attracted to him, as only a teenaged girl could be. He definitely was a celebrity crush! And then, well, then Dirty Dancing came around and pretty much solidified my love for Patrick Swayze. Yes, I was crazy for Swayze. Patrick Swayze always seemed to play such romantic characters, and he could play them well!! As a hopeless romantic, the story of he and Baby resonated within me. Watching Johnny teach Baby to dance, taking her up in his muscular arms....well, it did something to me. It made me want to go to a place like Kellerman’s and find my own Johnny Castle. I often wondered if it really did exist: a place like Kellerman’s AND a guy like Johnny Castle. I watched and I knew right there and then I wanted some guy to hold me like that and dance with me like that and more importantly, LOVE me like that.

Hearing Baby speak one of her most famous lines, “Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you.”, I felt like she understood me. And as my life unfolded and my 14 year old self grew up, each time I watched Dirty Dancing (yesterday included) those words scream at me.

I’ve come to realize that when you love someone you have to take the risk of getting hurt. Without risk there is no reward. I also learned that relationships are not perfect and sometimes together you can overcome what seems like insurmountable challenges. I had a pretty crappy first marriage. I wasn’t treated like Baby, but rather I was almost treated as a baby. I wasn’t made to feel like I was an important part of his life, but rather that I needed him in order to go through each day. It wasn't love, it became dependency. I took a risk when I met my current husband. We both weren’t in positions to be able to just be together. However, I knew that I wasn’t willing to just walk away because I knew I would NEVER feel the rest of my whole life the way I felt when I was around him. I finally had my Johnny Castle and I was not about to let him go.

While movies like Dirty Dancing are created purely for entertainment (and money making) purposes, they also have some pretty hefty messages within them that we can carry forward into our own lives. It is when we take the time to watch, REALLY watch, that we can understand. And perhaps each time we watch, something new will pop up. Take some time to enjoy the movies.

Until next time, my friends……Nobody puts Baby in a corner!

Think Thankfully