Patrick Swayze, thank you!

I remember when I was 16 my Mom planned a special outing for my sisters and I. I put on my baggy jeans (you know, tight at the waist and then baggy all the way down, but then it comes together again at the ankles, lovely), a button down white shirt, a corduroy green jacket (I rolled up the sleeves and rolled up my shirt sleeves over it so that there was a white border). When I was done dressing I pulled my hair back in a tight ponytail, brushed my curls out so that the ponytail was frizzy, brushed my bangs back and then ran my fingers through them to bring them down to my face and feather them. I proceeded to apply green eye pencil, brown eyeshadow and absolutely nothing else. On my lips the only thing I wore was chapstick. I wore mascara, but not enough to make any kind of statement. The idea back in the day (at least for me) was all about color on the eyes and nothing much else. Sometimes I wore clear gloss or even better, vaseline.

I was set. I looked perfect. Now the only thing left was to dab on some of my favorite perfume of the moment, Dama da Noite from Companhia da Terra. This is a long discontinued scent, but I wore it religiously for a year. Before that, the only thing I wore was Le Jardin from Max Factor.


When we arrived at our destination I was in awe. There were crowds of people all standing in line for a movie that had a scary name, but not a scarry picture. In huge letters I saw the name Ghost starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Everyone was talking about it being an incredible romance story and I took their word for it. The actors were both unknowns (to me) and this was - to my recollection - the third time in my life that I had gone to the movie theatre. You don't believe me? Well, it's true. We lived a very sheltered life. Before this movie the only other movies I remember watching in the theater were ET and Wall Street.

I don't remember ever seeing anything that beautiful before. I also don't remember ever crying that hard before. It was amazing. A thrilling experience I will never forget. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Everyone walked out of the movie wiping their faces, blowing their noses. I just watched it again last night, and it is still that good.


A little while later I moved to Argentina and there I saw another movie with Patrick Swayze, Dirty Dancing (yeah, I know this one came out first, but like I said, I lived a sheltered life). Wow! In my eyes, he could do no wrong. I mean, do you remember the dancing? Man, those were good times! He was amazingly sexy in that movie and for a sheltered teenage girl, well, let's just say, he rocked my world!

Patrick Swayze, I raise a symbolic glass and toast your memory. My teenage years would not be the same without you. You will live on in our hearts forever. Future generations will know your name. Because of you my awkward teenage years were just a bit better, a bit brighter. I'm not joking. True story:


I was at a dance in Argentina and I had been there for about 2 weeks and was still getting to know everyone. I was standing in the corner drinking fruit punch wearing a jean mini skirt, a burgundy T-shirt (with the sleeves rolled up), ankle socks and canvas white sneakers, my hair was (this is so embarrassing) pulled up in a barrette on one side only, I was wearing no makeup at all (we weren't allowed to wear makeup at our school), and of course I was wearing perfume, only this time it was Tamango. The song started, ("I've had the time of my life") with Swayze singing in his sexy voice. The crowd parted (I am not making this up) and from across the room a tall, dark, super handsome, amazingly confindent hunk of a man (teenager) walks up to me. He put his arm around my waist, and while he was leading me to the dance floor he leaned in and whispered in a husky voice in my ear, "Let's dance".

Thank you, Patrick Swayze! I did have the time of my life and not surprisingly, I owe that awesome memory to you!