When I was in a youth group in high school, we spent a little time volunteering at the motion picture home. I guess that's pretty "Hollywood" -- it's not in any city that you can volunteer at a retirment home singularly dedicated to retired and elder Hollywood types.
I hated that place. I didn't like the gray cloud of eminent death that sort of hung over the place. And it reminded me of visiting my grandmother in her home before she passed away. But we would walk the halls and sing with them or just listen to them talk. I warmed to it.
I don't think we did it very often but in my memory, I somehow feel like we were they a lot... Maybe that's present-day-me trying to believe that teenaged-me was a real do-gooder.
At some point, I must have wandered off (I did this regularly) and found myself in Mabel's room. Mabel was a large, loud, loving woman who'd lost her legs to Diabetes but not her spirit. She'd gone rather unknown in her Hollywood hey-day despite having starred in several recognized titles like The Wiz, The Jerk, "What's Happening?" and "The Jeffersons." She had letters and gifts to show off from her Wiz co-star, Michael Jackson, and hilarious stories about Patrick Swayze, who was somehow a friend of hers and would visit from time to time.
Without her legs, some of her teeth, and the use of her left arm, Mabel was still a force. I was apprehensive at first but eventually, loved to be around her. I think I had about four visits with her, each one more entertaining than the one before. She could not sing as she used to but still hummed a little for me, and she let me hold a small, fancy music box Michael Jackson had sent her at some point.
I was flipping channels tonight and The Wiz was on Ovation. You see, usually, after I've posted a blog entry, I come back to it a few hours later and look for al the typos I need to correct. It never fails - there are always a half-dozen. I type so fast and seldom bother to correct as I go or even once I publish. And tonight, as I was doing just that, reading about trying to be positive and all that, Mabel came belting out "Don't nobody bring me no bad news!" And thereafter, "Brand New Day."
Hmmmm... I dunno. I'm not saying it was a spiritual or mystical moment. It just made me smile. And it made me think of Mabel and her interminable gusto.
Mabel, honey, you were FIERCE!
