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The Pretender

Sadly, our photographer was unaware that the focal point of this picture was not supposed to be our bellybuttons. Imagine me with the top of my head, and you have the Fabulous Four, so named by me, just now.

What can I say about these ladies besides they are amazing and I cherish their friendship?


Kristy, the one on the far right owns a dance studio. She is the catalyst of the Fab Four. She decided to open her studio again, a few years after having her second child and I signed my girls up as soon as they could walk. While there, I found an adult class and, after two years of contemplating, decided to try it out. It was hard.  It  hurt. But I would dream I could fly after every class. Kristy's second child was diagnosed with Epidermolysis bullosa, a rare, painful, and often eventually fatal skin disease. As her daughter's skin blistered upon touch, bled and peeled off, Kristy pulled up herself up by her bootstraps and created clothing that didn't damage her daughter's skin.  Once tried and tested, she sent the clothing to all EB babies born.  She regularly runs fundraisers for EB. She has also now adopted two more children to add to her biological two.

Jennifer is the tall brunette beauty. She is also a real dancer. She and I share a special bond because of our empathy for one another's hyperemisis. After losing some teeth and damaging her esophagus, she wisely stopped with two pregnancies. She has more creativity and artistic talent in one eyelash than I can ever hope to have.

Kari and I met shortly after both of us married in a student ward. She is intelligent, articulate, witty, and genuine. My small family moved to a new neighborhood after having our first child.  We ended up in the same ward again.  We had our children at the same time (except for the extra one I squeezed in), dropped our hours to part-time work at the same time, went to the park together, and regularly had one another's family over for dinner. We even shared the dubious distinction of having our husbands have their mid-life crises at the same time. Fortunately, my husband pulled himself out of his.  Kari's husband is now her ex-husband, as of September.

And then there's plain ole' me. One of us is a pretender of "Fabulous."

Regardless, this is the last dance performance we performed two years ago.

I'm the really good dancer.


Comments

  1. I love Jennifer's jacket!

    And girl you were fabulous in your dance recital. So glad I got to enjoy it!

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  2. Don't you love friends like that? Everyone needs them. I love that you are taking dance, should I say at your age... :) That is a secret dream of mine...

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  3. Sweet post. It's such a blessing to have good girlfriends. You are so brave to get up on a stage and dance, I think I have had nightmares involving such a scenario as that, of course I have an absolute lack of rhythm, were as you gals looked awesome!

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  4. Wow, I try stuff like this when I am all alone in my living room but I don't look nearly as cool!

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  5. If I tried those moves Id fall on my face! I dance and sing while I clean...all alone where no one can make fun of me.

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  6. There is nothing "pretend" fabulous about you, Lady.

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  7. I remember that dance! That was the day I scheduled my craniotomy and I was supposed to perform with you girls but I didn't because of those nasty headaches I kept getting. It was a bitter sweet day for me! And I will never forget the date because it was June 6th, 2006 which I think is ironic condidering it was they day I found out I had a brain tumor. Good thing I'm not superstitious ;). Anyway, all of you looked SO good! It was great to see again.

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  8. Those are great memories you will always have--keep doing that until your 95!

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  9. I love it. This is what life should be like for every woman, in my opinion. Thanks for sharing the video. I loved it.

    I'm also curious about the mid life crises and what they involved...I think my husband may be about to hit one square in the face :s What do I have to look forward to?

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  10. How awesome to have wonderful Sistas to "do life with" and being a dancer from way back, loved watching the clip, you are never too old to do something you love. Lxx

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  11. I thought all of you were the best...and I can't imagine having the intestinal fortitude necessary to do that as an adult.

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  12. I know Kristy--I LOVE her. She is amazing.

    I also love that you love dance. I wish I'd gotten more into it in college. Fun video!

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  13. You are the dancing queen! Only 17!!!!

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  14. Thank you for the comment about the medicine, from Julie's sight. When you are "like me" every bit of helpful info is appreciated. And, I scrolled down even just a litte on your page, and I am quite sure you are not the pretender in the Fab 4. Just saying. ;) Thanks so much, and I shall be back. I like your flowers. :)

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  15. I doth protest... you ARE fabulous!!!

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  16. That was great! Thanks so much for sharing!!

    The only 'dancing' I ever did was lame choreography we did with a choral group I sang with in high school. I am a much better singer than I am a dancer (by that, I mean I don't make dogs howl).

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