I Love Bobby Banas, The Nitty Gritty, and Chanzie & Stephen, too!

I'm always looking for ways to feel happier and to cheer up.  A couple of months ago I came across this video, and I've watched it so many times, and I just love it!

Shirley Ellis : The Nitty Gritty 1963 HD

The main guy in the front is the one that I can't stop watching.  His movements are so wild and fun.  His partner is good, too, and sometimes I watch her, but he (Bobby Banas or Robert Banas) just mesmerizes me.

link:  Bobby Banas on Wikipedia

On Wikipedia it said:

Banas said he began to dance at age five. “I would immediately run and stand in a doorway pretending it was a frame for a small stage. I then would jive, moving my body to and fro, trying to keep up with the beat of the music, knowing that when the music would crescendo I’d leap in the air defying gravity, only to land in a heap. I’d pick myself up and start it all over again. I just couldn’t sit still when I’d hear those big bands: Tommy Dorsey, Ray Anthony, Count Basie, Les Brown and Stan Kenton.”^[1]

Then, some time after I kept watching this older video (from the Judy Garland show), I came across this newer one, and it's a really good one, too.

RTSF 2016 - The Nitty Gritty - Chanzie & Stephen

In that video, she's the one that I can't stop watching, though both are great dancers.  

Just check out either of the two YouTube links if you need to be in a better mood.  That is, if you like the song, which I do.  Enjoy!

Still Wanting to Find More Joy Again

funny moments

My husband found this the other day when going through some papers.  This is just a photo that I took the other day of a photo printed on our printer with a note that I wrote years ago. 

Somewhere there is a better copy of that photo, of course, but the important thing is the note that I wrote on it.  For five years I've been mis-remembering what the moment was of that photo.  I kept saying that that photo where Ethan (our nephew) and I were laughing so hard that we cried was when we were playing a Mario game where we kept knocking each other off a vine.

Now I see this note and realize that we were probably watching Ninjago and Ethan made that joke.  Back when he was five, we joked a lot about farts and burping, and it was great, silly fun.  

wanting more joy

I know that all of us who are grieving do have moments somewhat like this, at times, even since Ethan's mom (our sister) passed away over five years ago, but it's still hard to create moments of pure silliness and joy these days.  I wonder what the secret is to getting it back.  Our hearts were more pure, joyful, and less broken back then.  Can they be healed?

I keep feeling like it's my fault that I can't find ways to be happier.  We've had multiple important losses in recent years, and they've affected us.  We do all feel grateful about the loved ones we still have, keep trying to be busy, find things that bring us joy, and do work that is important to us.  But still, it's not the same, you know?

My First Selfie

Okay, I took this a year or more ago, but I just came across it again and it cracked me up.  That was me trying to take a photo of me and my nephew Ethan.

Since I don't have a real smartphone, where you can see on a screen what you are taking a photo of, this is what I ended up with.  I think I was just using our digital camera anyway, which also would only show the view on the back.

Great shot, eh?  So silly.  It keeps making me laugh.