Day 3: Individuation
Time is moving, and I am still different. I dance, learn, & find my life partner. I notice, in a photograph of my mother, the happiness of a Holocaust survivor. After my mother dies, my father appreciates how my mother took care of our family.
“I love to dance, in my soul, I am a dancer. When I dance, I am in my body, my mind is quiet and my soul is free to speak. When we live on Fairfax, I am entranced by Shirley Temple movies. I already have the curls; I want tap lessons. Dad says that if I take ballet first, he will pay for tap lessons. I am a very affectionate child; hugging and kissing anyone who comes into our house. At the end of every ballet class, in order to get my gold or silver star, I have to give the teacher a kiss. For some reason she gives me the creeps. I ask my parents to send me to a different school. Instead, they stop my lessons entirely. I learn the popular dances of my childhood; the mash potatoes, the pony, the watusi…, from the after school television shows. I do take folk dancing through a Jewish organization.”
