I had to share...

I cleaned my room today. I found my Grandmother's high school class ring that I had lost for a brief time. YAY! I also found a LOT of old stuff of mine.

Here is something about me that many may not know: I keep EVERYTHING!

No... I am not a hoarder.. but I keep things that are important to me.

Ticket stubs, stickers, newspaper articles, pictures, cards, hand written letters, poems, words (yes.. I used to cut out COOL words from magazines... words that I thought were so intense and describe my way of thinking!), magnets, POGS!, coins (yeah, I collect cool coins from cool places), carnival/amusement park bracelets, 3D glasses from the 3D movies I go to, brochures from places I've been, etc.

Today... as I'm cleaning... I come across a newspaper article. The date is November 10, 2008. The title is... "A dancer...now and then"

I will share with you some of it.

A dancer...now and then By: Pat Conway

"'I envy all of the youngsters of Newtown and its vicinity who have the opportunity of studying the dance under your expert direction. You were top-flight Broadway professional dancing stars for years, so these young pupils have the assurance that what you teach them is dancing at its professional best.'

Newspaper columnist and longtime television show host Ed Sullivan wrote these words to Virginia and Mack Lathrop in 1960, eight years after the professional dance duo started a dance school in the Edmond Town Hall gym with 60 students, each paying $1 a lesson.

Today, the Lathrop School of Dance is in the same location and still going strong, with more than 350 students, ages 3 and up, in tap, jazz, pre-ballet, and hip hop classes.

'Dancing is the biggest joy in my life,' says Ginny Lathrop, a vibrant woman who has retained her tall, slim, youthful physique and is full of energy. She will celebrate her 94th birthday Nov. 23. Lathrop and her assistant, Diane Wardenburg, meet every afternoon to choreograph the dance numbers Wardenburg and the dance school's part-time teachers use with the students."

(Later on it mentions...)

"'I don't think I could be anything but a dancer.' Lathrop said. Lathrop joined a Boston dance revue and at age 16 auditioned there for talent scout Gus Edwards, 'I beat out 5,000 people.' she said.

In 1936, while in Boston, the dancer heard about an act in New York that needed a replacement. She auditioned at The Palace Theater in New York City for Mack Lathrop, who loved her dancing and hired her.

A year later, he married her. 'It was a very romantic life,' Lathrop says of their nearly 50 years together before he died in 1985.

They literally lived out of a suitcase, staying in one location for a few days, then moving on to the next. When they had some time off they stayed with Mrs. Lee (Ginny's mother) in Boston.

Their fame spread. Fred Astaire called them the finest dancers in show business. Ed Sullivan was impressed with their 'terrific dancing talent' and the 'elegance of their act.' Mack always wore tails and a hat, while Ginny donned slinky evening gowns."

(The ending paragraph says,)

"Ginny Lathrop, who never had a family of her own, feels a motherly concern for much of her adopted hometown. When she can't sleep, she prays 'for everybody,' she said-- students, teachers, friends, and townspeople.

'Ginny is a positive, giving, caring person,' said Wardenburg, who has known her almost half a century. 'She has a young attitude and the most positive outlook on life.'"

*** I couldn't have said it any better myself. You had such a contagious way of living. Always thinking on the bright side. Always pushing me and keeping me fighting.

I love you Mrs. Lathrop. Not one day goes by where I am not thinking of you. Miss you dearly.

Keep Smiling,

Karla =)