imh19 Club Scene

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imh19 Club Scene

Club Scene
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In 1980, Jacqui and I lived in Alexandria Virginia, in the Rose Hill Apartments. I worked in Washington Dc, at Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company as a Programmer. I liked my work and the people I worked with. I loved the location on Capital Hill, overlooking the Taft Memorial Carillon, which had classical concerts every weekday at noon. I often walked to the Botanical gardens or the National Gallery of Art for lunch. But there was one thing about the job that I really didn’t like; my paycheck was so small that it was difficult for me to support us. Often, Jacqui and I had nothing but soup to eat for supper day after day. There were times when we had to ‘make do’ with only fifteen dollars for a week’s worth of food. Eventually, this became untenable, and after several violent incidents in our neighborhood, I realized that we had to move away from Washington D.C. to afford a good life for us.
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We took as much pleasure as possible in living near Washington, despite our limited income. On weekends, we rode bikes along the Potomac. We took many of our vacations at Ocean City Maryland, which was only about three hours away. We both enjoyed frequent visits to the National Gallery of Art, the Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian and the Botanical Gardens. One thing we really enjoyed was going to Georgetown to window shop and finishing the day by buying a treat at a bakery on M Street. The night before we left Washington, Jacqui and I went to our favorite restaurant in Georgetown for dinner.
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But there were some pleasures that I did not share with Jacqui. I loved music. I went to the Kennedy Center whenever I could. I was at The Kennedy Center on November 14, 1980, for a celebration of Aaron Copeland’s eightieth birthday. I sat a short distance from Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter. I saw Aaron Copeland conduct. He was so animated.
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I took up dancing. In 1979, I took disco lessons, and then found a great dance partner, named George, who was big and strong. Almost every Tuesday, he took me dancing. We danced for several hours and only drank soft drinks. We put on a good show. I really dressed to the nines for dancing and both of us were skillful and graceful. One of my favorite dance dresses was white with tiny black dots. It had a tulip hem, so the dress would part during some movements and show my pretty legs, just momentarily. George was much older than me, but he was also intelligent and urbane. A coworker said to him once, “Don’t you know that dating a woman that is much younger than you can be fatal?” George replied, “Yes, but if she dies I can get another one.” I don’t think he actually did find another dance partner that he liked as well as me, when I left DC in 1981. In fact, it was the end of my dancing career too.
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I wish I had gotten pictures of us dancing. Can you imagine me going to a stranger and saying, “Sir, would you please shoot photos of us dancing? I want to remember this forever.” I didn’t know that being a disco queen would soon become just a memory for me. Maybe I thought I’d stay young and beautiful forever. Does anyone expect to set aside the things they love?
Whatever you love, take lots of pictures and don’t worry about what others think of it.
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