Thoughts on Greg's Article

... the last daisies of the summer still bloom in my garden ...

Pandemic history begins in 1914.  

That is not the title of a recent article Greg Bates wrote for the Ward Newsletter.  

Still, it is what I got from his article – a list of world events that have acted upon us, and we with them since 1914.  

I liked the article because many words and phrases he uses brought up a long history from the 1950’s and on for me.

I didn’t know Greg Bates was a writer.  I didn’t know he had edited a newsletter.  I didn’t know he was an artist, even though Wyona has often said, when I am admiring one of her watercolours, “I am not the artist.  I only have craft.  Greg is the artist”.   When I think about Greg, I think of him as a dancer.  When Wyona and he cruise, they dance from 10 pm until the band stops playing, which is much longer than an old couple should stay up waltzing, doing the samba or jiving. 

“Where did you learn to dance?” I asked him 

“I went to Scouts”, he said.  “Scouts in the Sixth Ward.  Ken Dolan was the scout master.  Ruth and Ken didn’t have children, so they had time to do things couples might not do after they are married.  And one of them is dance.  They may have danced professionally, and maybe taught for he could teach scouts how to dance.”

“Didn’t you think dancing was a little odd at scouts?”

“I didn’t really think anything of it.  I didn’t know what any other troops did, and Ken made it seem normal to learn to dance.  Added to that, the church held a regular Saturday Night dance.  The protocol was to go to the dance, dance with many girls, and hope take drive home the one I really liked.

What a way for a 12 year old boy to learn to dance.

This summer I have watched Greg deep in the act of grandfathering, sometimes walking his loved ones down paths he has clear for them in the early spring.  

And occasionally he writes an article that invites me to think in a new ways.

Arta