My smile twinkles with mischief
My smile reveals a hint of sadness
My smile is seductive
My smile makes you smile
My smile is sometimes fake
My smile is sometimes shy
My smile remembers the good times
My smile hopes for the future
My smile is a reflection of my joy
My smile is a mirror of those around me
My smile is a glimpse of my spirit
My smile is filled with infinite possibilities
The aroma wafts towards you from 100 paces. It’s the unmistakable scent of baking, mingled with the rich headiness of cinnamon. I close my eyes and move blindly in the direction of the divine deliciousness. Then I see it…it’s a sign…no, really, it’s a sign that says “Cinnabon”.
I move closer, lured by the aroma-induced euphoria and existential knowledge that something heavenly awaits if I follow this path.
Inside the sacred temple of temptation I catch my first glimpse of this divine decadence and I know…I must have it. Flavours of vanilla, lemon, caramel and chocolate offer themselves to me like vivid red roses to bees. And like a cult follower, I point weakly at the one that begs me to take it.
I take out my purse and gradually everything comes back into focus. I realise that I am in a shopping centre – Canal Walk – and that this is a little store selling cinnamon rolls. My religious experience evaporates as I part with R12 and eagerly clutch my freshly baked bun. I open the wrapping as if it were a diamond necklace and inhale the beautiful cinnamon.
The first bite is utterly beyond anything I had imagined. (These things always look better than they taste, right? WRONG!) Every bite was a thing of unsullied beauty and, as I took my time and allowed my palette to revel in its treat, all was right with the world. The hot rolls are taken from the oven freshly baked, and then filled with a cream cheese frosting which melts into the swirls of the roll. A hint of lemon brings out the vanilla and cinnamon flavours. This is heaven!
I am drying my eyes. I always cry when I watch this movie. Every time. And always in the same places. It’s a very unsentimental film too, so what is it that always tugs at my heart? The movie I’m referring to is “Shall We Dance” starring Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, made in 2004 and first released on the art circuit. It also stars Jennifer Lopez, but don’t let that fact make you stop reading this. At the heart of this film is pure, honest human emotions, failings and fears. Richard Gere plays a (gorgeous) middle aged man who commutes home every night on the train in Chicago. On his way home he notices a dance studio and spots Jennifer’s character, Paulina. The hapless group of would-be ballroom dancers are wonderfully – sometimes tragically – entertaining. But each somehow mirrors a facet of myself, and probably everybody else too. Nobody is perfect in this film. Gere doesn’t end up a champion dancer. But the ending is more beautiful, more moving than you would ever expect. And the dancing represents that repressed passion and fire that is within all of us.
Gere’s character hides his nocturnal cha-cha classes from his wife, played by Susan Sarandon, who then hires a private detective to find out if he’s having an affair. After finding out what he’s been up to, she doesn’t understand why he would keep it a secret from her. In a memorable scene the PI asks her why people should get married? She replies: “We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet… I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness…”
So why do I love this film so much? Is it that scene where Richard Gere emerges on the escalator dressed in a tuxedo, holding a red rose? Or is it the way that his voice falters and trembles when he says to his wife: “The one thing I am proudest of in my whole life, is that you’re happy with me. If I couldn’t tell you that I was unhappy sometimes, it’s because I didn’t want to risk hurting the one person I treasure most.” Or maybe it’s when he tells his wife that he was ashamed of wanting more, when he had so much. The dance scenes make my muscles twitch and I long to be them, gliding so gracefully across the polished wooden dance floor.
It’s about going beyond the mundane repetitive things we do in life and trying something new and exciting that makes you feel alive. And it’s about Love, Friendship, and being true to yourself.
This article is being written out of frustration! It concerns the phenomenon called Blog Spam or BS. So far, my interesting postings have had comments that, on the surface, look like they come from interested people complimenting me on my excellent and informative writing. On closer examination, their originating URL’s range from Russian prostitutes, marketing trackback websites, Estate Planners, music download sites, Viagra sales and various sex sites.
Now, I know my blog isn’t exactly cutting edge journalism, but just once, I’d like to get a genuine comment from an actual human being who has actually READ the words and had a GENUINE THOUGHT that they wanted to contribute to this fabulous interactive online forum. As you may have gathered, I’m getting a bit upset about this and need to come up with a method of preventing these internet infiltrators from using my precious blog for their lame-ass marketing.
