This is turning out to be a year of irrevocable changes. Here is another event.  I was one of the first in Milwaukee to receive the news of Larry's death in an email at 11:30pm Thursday night. I was in shock. I did not sleep that night. There was no one I could think of to talk to at that late hour. I could now write a chapter in the 'Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People' book. My mind was throwing out a banquet of delightful different positive ways I could look at this. My emotions would have none of it. They screamed at me  -- bring Larry back at once!! 

I spent the next 4 days calling people, being called by grieving people, and trying to figure out how I should absorb this event. This was not unlike what I felt in hearing of the death of an old college friend just last month, but I was much closer to this man than I was to her. I lost a dance playmate. For a dance addict such as myself, this is a serious loss. 

I didn't realize how much I had grown attached to my friend Larry. We saw each other at many folk dance events and were frequent swing dance partners.  Ten or fifteen years of my life have passed with him in it and now he's gone.  I feel I want to gather up and keep everyone that's in my life now, even my postman, and I'm not really totally sure what he looks like! 

Then I calm myself down and realize how many dance playmates I still have and promise myself I will not take them for granted. I realize a connection with the familiar faces I see at dance events, even though I may not know more about them than that. They are the framework and enhancers of my many happy hours of dancing. They are part of me and I am part of them... 

Last night we dedicated our dance night to the memory of Larry. We did the candle dance (an old Israeli dance, Likrat Shabbat), with a moment of silence where afterwards a person could express their thoughts about Larry if someone was moved to speak. 

Many people came forward. Laurie Petersen brought an excerpt of a piece that Larry wrote and had another friend read it to the group. It was a wonderfully written notation on dance. 

I knew many things about Larry, but not much about his writing.  He was an extraordinary person. 

Kay Josten - Waukesha, Wisconsin
KayJosten1@aol.com