30th Anniversary of Frejus Vous Accueille

There were fifty-eight of us on Saturday, November 29, 2008, Frejus Vous Accueille celebrated their 30th anniversary of welcoming new comers to Frejus. Since this has been our saving grace for getting to know some of the best people, we were anxious to go to this celebration.

We even decided that since we'd been learning Hula with Lisa that it would be a great opportunity to show the association this beautiful dance and everything it represents...harmony, peace, tranquility, oneness with nature, with self, with those around you...itself a celebration of nature.

Though our hula lessons each Friday afternoon included Christine, she was unable to make the fete so it was up to us four to convey this art to those present...there was of course Lisa, (the belle teacher), Helen (the spunky), Nathalie (the gracious) and myself (the mascot).

This little group of women have meant so much to me, they represent my core group of friends here...they have made me feel so at home, so at peace in their presence

And we must not forget the two strikingly handsome men who hold this little group of women in line (so to speak) first you have Laurent (Nathalie's husband) and Rick (Lisa's husband). They are both very kind, generous, funny, outgoing and keep me in stitches or blushing one. They have many things in common and enjoy taking long bike rides to get away from all the women, one thing they do not share in common however, is a common language and yet they are fast becoming good friends.

Here are two of the final four girls that encompass our group, Abigail (the mischievous) and Irie (the mischievous)...how can they be the same? Anyways they are best of friends and at times Lisa and I wonder if they are not glued at the hips because they NEVER want to leave each other's side. As I type this blog, Abigail is spending the night at Irie's...she couldn't take being apart for a few hours. The two girls that are missing in these pictures is Fanny and Laure (Nathalie and Laurent's beautiful girls, ages 13 and 16). So all in all there are eight women that surround Rick and Laurent...it is no wonder they want to go for such long rides!

Here we are seconds before "going on", all dressed up and nervous...and yet...not. As the saying goes for Lisa and I "this was not our first rodeo". For Lisa, of course this was probably her 1000th time of performing and for me, I had danced countless times at my church in Maui a version of Hula that could be called Christian Hula where the song is either a popular praise song or a song praising the attributes of God, this was to be my first "official" Hula.

For Nathalie and Helen it was their first time and it was such a blessing to be a part of their first experience with this moving dance. When we returned into the dressing room after the dance, the room was flooded with emotions that went unchecked. The emotions were happily released and during those precious moments, that will forever be embedded in my memory, the very essence of Aloha warmed the cold room. I watched quietly, drinking in the moment, feeling honored to be in the room where tears flowed freely...being shed for joy, for pride in this accomplishment and mainly for the realization that the worries of the world, the pesky things of life that all too often suck the joy of of life were revealed for what they were...nothing. That this feeling, this "aloha" was what life was REALLY about and what it should be about. No one wanted the feeling to end, or the moment...it was to precious...too sacred and shared only by four women. Four women who will be forever touched by the spirit of aloha.....in the south of France!

Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaYiPfSfNXU