That's my mom holding onto Michelle while we all rode the merry-go-round on Boblo Island in the late 60s.
With three-and-a-half years between us, it wasn't hard to launch a friendship with my sister. It has been the constant heartbeat woven through all the moments of my life.
That's Michelle and me, helping my dad to celebrate his birthday in the mid-70s. The little Michigan girls were now Maritimers, living on Canada's east coast. Through grand moving-house adventures to cozying up for bedtime stories, we've greeted life together -- sharing our dreams, our worries, so many giggles and endless supplies of hugs.
My sister Michelle has been at the scene of dreams-coming-true moments for as long as I've been having them.
When I married Brad, Michelle was there beside me -- here she dances during the reception with my best friend and matron of honor Connie, our Uncle Louie and our Aunt Louise, with our Aunt Loretta in the background at left.
When Michelle married Newt, where would I be, but beside her -- Connie too, of course.
As I mentioned in my 'R' post yesterday, Michelle and my husband Brad were there for me, every step of the way as I did my film degree at Ryerson University in Toronto in the early 90s. Michelle not only acted in several of my student films, she did hair-and-makeup, did craft services (or on-set catering,) provided transportation, turned her car into a trucking dolly shot, helped secure an important location for my fourth-year shoot and did countless production assistant jobs.
Whether it's holding a casual get-together following our mom's art show in Toronto in 2000 (that's Mom at lower left, and my sister at top right) --
-- or attending my debut book launch in Halifax in 2011 (with Michelle at center, our cousin Julianne at right) --
-- whether it's meeting our teenage heartthrob Leslie McKeown from the Bay City Rollers --
-- or strolling through Central Park on our way to see the American Ballet Theatre at Lincoln Center --
So many dreams really have come true for both of us, and who better to savour such sweetness than with my sister?
Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
Time to celebrate September birthday boys! So let's start with my
cousin-in-law, Stephen MacLean,
shown above with his wife, my cousin Julianne MacLean.
Stephen's getting ready to celebrate by having a rather huge dream come
true. This Sunday evening at 9:30 pm, his feature film Wispdebuts
at the Atlantic Film
Festival.
Wisp screens at Park Lane
Cinemas on Spring Garden Road, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"A gripping lost-in-the-woods video-verite horror flick that begins
with a whimsicle search for the lights of the Will O' the Wisp and then
descends into a struggle for survival against an unforseen biological
threat." -- Dream Front Entertainment
1 – Having been born in the Year of the Dragon, 2012 turned out to be pretty freakin' fantastic for me, starting with the arrival of the hard copies of my debut release, SAINT SANGUINUS.
2 – My friend and fellow author Shawna Romkey gave me this first-ever moment: my first book signing during the Valentine's Hearts on Fire event for my writers' group at The Halifax Club.
4 – Later in the spring, I attended a women's retreat at the Oak Island Inn with Tara and Shawna. A much-needed rest before a crazybusy summer.
5 – WAY, way up at the tippy top of my joy this year: directing the book trailers for my Scorpius series. Produced by Tara MacDonald and shot by Caroline Ruyle. Best time I ever had on set.
7 – The thrill of seeing your very own book for the first time never gets old! My second release BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE arrived in the mail in early summer.
8 – The book trailer for SAINT SANGUINUS won two awards!
9 – In August I signed copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel and my dark fantasy novel in the Indie Artist Alley at Fan Expo in Toronto. Many, many thanks to my friend Tara for helping me navigate this venue, and to my husband Brad who worked alongside me.
10- Easily, the most amazing moment of this year came when I finally made contact with a friend whom my sister and I met almost 30 years ago. We met Rashid Kamalov during the 1984 Tall Ships event in Halifax, while the Iron Curtain was still firmly in place. After writing about him here on my blog many times, his email showed up in my spam folder in September, which I only looked at because of the Fan Expo contest I held. Rashid is now my Facebook friend! Here's what he wrote after reading the tale of our summer together which I told to readers here at A Piece of My Mind: "Dear JuliĐ°, thank you for the wonderful story about our meetings and for good memory about me. I carried in my heart warm feelings to Michelle and to you through all life. I am glad to know that you are well, we can email each other. It is so well you are here!" - Oct. 2, 2012
11 – In October I attended my 10th writers' retreat with my writers' group. Already counting down the days until the next one.
12 – A few weeks later, I shared a table at Hal-Conwith paranormal/sci-fi erotica author Lilly Cain. Signed more copies of my books and had a ball.
13– To cap off the Dream Come True year, I went on my second trip to New York City, sat in the red booth at the Russian Tea Room and walked into the lobby of Radio City Music Hall to watch The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. That's my sister with me in the red booth, and my BFF at Radio City. SO amazing. I can't believe it sometimes!
Thank you to all my readers who have become friends over the years. You've made the world a much, much smaller place. Here's to 2013! Hope you're off to a fantastic start.
Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
This week's set is about dreams coming true.
When I was younger, I rode the wave of creative expression with gusto. I acted, I sang, I danced, I stage managed, I operated camera, I assistant directed, I wrote, I directed.
I had no way of knowing what was in store for me. No one does. Life always throws curve balls at everyone's plans, and my life has been no exception.
I went through a lengthy period that really tested my resolve. Ultimately I have to say that life crushed my belief in dreams for a time.
Looking back, there must have been a tiny kernel of hope nestled somewhere among the ruins. Otherwise, why would I have kept trying?
Here's to the power of dreams. In only one year since regaining my belief in my own dreams, so much has changed for me. I wish the same for any of you who may be struggling with a similar lack of faith in dreams.
1 - Dream On - Aerosmith
2 - What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani
3 - Making Our Dreams Come True - Cyndi Grecco
4 - When You Wish Upon a Star - Cliff Edwards
5 - A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Ilene Woods
A special event I enjoy having here at A Piece of My Mind are my virtual art shows. Besides the Sidebar Art Gallery which hosts a new show every month, I have hosted eight art shows featuring single artists or mixed artists.
You can check them out by visiting my Art Gallery Archives. The link is at the top beneath the blog header.
Another regular feature here is my book review T13. You can check out my current assortment of 38 reviews by visiting my Book Reviews link, just under the blog header.
Something new I've started and which I really enjoy is the interview T13. I haven't collected them all under one roof yet, but that is on the list for this year.
1 - This is me standing in front of my junior high school, wearing my handmade Roller gear.
This is also a picture of a dream.
My dream.
When this photo was taken, I dreamt day and night about what it would be like to meet Leslie McKeown, lead singer of the Bay City Rollers.
2 - I bought all of their albums, which I listened to obsessively. I bought every 16 Magazine and Tiger Beat and read every article and gazed at every picture. Obsessively.
I was never a big believer in doing anything halfway.
3 - It was all crystal clear in my mind. How I would walk around a corner and discover him there. How we would smile and talk. How he would put his arm around me and give me that first kiss.
4 - It didn't matter to me that the odds of the Rollers coming to tiny, out-of-the-way Halifax, Nova Scotia were dismal to none.
It didn't matter to me that millions of other young teenage girls were having the same exact dreams about Leslie, in their bedrooms in homes all around the world.
Leslie had a way of gazing through the camera right at me. He connected with me like no one else ever had. He was my first romantic crush, the first focus for all my girlish yearnings on the cusp of womanhood.
5 - Over the years, I never lost my crush on Leslie. I've always loved his voice, and have a Bay City Rollers playlist that I sometimes write my dark, scary vampire stuff to.
And over the years, Halifax has grown and connected with the world. A-listers now play here, and our music has made itself at home around the world.
Still, I wasn't quite ready for the news that Leslie McKeown would be appearing at the Casino showroom in October.
What made it so strange was the fact that I'd just had Les McKeown Week here at A Piece of My Mind this past August.
6 - The Big Night finally arrived. I toasted to dreams coming true with my best friend Connie, who took that picture of me in 1977. I toasted with my cousin Julianne and my sister Michelle, who spent countless hours dreaming the same dreams alongside me.
7 - We took our seats in the Schooner Showroom, which was fully sold. The crowd was definitely psyched even before the just-about-to-walk-onstage bagpipe music started up.
Bagpipe music. Halifax. Just sayin'.
8 - And then he was there.
Leslie McKeown.
No longer in my head, but right before my eyes.
In the strange ways of the world, Les and his new band ended their North American tour with this Halifax date, never suspecting that Halifax is a party hearty city that loves nothing better than to make everyone who stops here feel like a cherished old friend.
We were rowdy, we were vocal, we rushed the stage immediately, we danced, we laughed, we screamed, we smiled, we fed off each other and made a magical night together.
These guys really cooked! The lead guitarist especially was mighty fine, both to listen to and to look at.
But the energy of the original Rollers were definitely in the room. And our shared experience of Rollermania turned the years back for all of us.
10 - Here Leslie talks about his Rollermania experiences, including what it was like to find 'room service' was actually a fan who'd made her way through security.
The proposal for a Roller reunion mentioned in the clip is not on the books anytime soon.
11 - Here's a clip of the encore number played at the Halifax show which I found on You Tube. The actual sound at the venue was fine - the sound on this clip gets blown out because the camera mic couldn't handle the volume.
You can see the joy on Les' face as the night turned out to be more than he'd quite expected. "I want to say this to the people," he said just before leaving the stage. "The best, final night of this tour I could ever have dreamed of. Thank you very much, Halifax!"
Later on Facebook he wrote: "The Final night in Halifax, what a night to remember, thanks to you, you made a great gig happen, xxx Thank you, from me and the boys, xx"
12 - My sister and cousin having an absolute blast. Leslie really had fun interacting with the crowd, making that eye contact just the way he always did, making jokes laced with saucy innuendo. Just the way we always suspected he would.
He also made lots of jokes about the years that had passed, affectionately and without apology. When he sang The Bump, my cousin and sister ran up and danced it together. He pointed them out and said, "Bet you that hurts now, doesn't it?"
And he was cheeky enough to sing Yesterday's Hero, as well.
13 - After the show, Julianne, Michelle and I stood at the meeting point arranged before the show with the promotions director. Julianne had contacted her several weeks earlier to request a meet and greet.
To our astonishment and delight, she got back to us with news that she would indeed get us backstage to meet Leslie in person after the show.
So while half the sold-out audience got into well-organized line-ups for autographs, we waited nervously for the all-clear.
And then there she was. And we were walking through a door that led to a long corridor, which took us towards the green room. My mouth went dry. Another door opened. And then Leslie turned towards us.
And my dream came true.
We smiled and talked. He put his arm around me as we all posed for a picture. He gave each of us a kiss as though we were old friends saying goodbye until next time.
There was a time when I was younger that I believed dreams might come true. I set about making some of them happen.
Then there was a dark period for me, when I resented the phrase Follow your dreams, as I'd discovered the hard way that many of the most cherished dreams will never come true, no matter how hard you work for it, no matter how hard you fight for it.
But I can say now, that in the moment I stepped through that door and saw Leslie turn towards us, all the pain, the profound despair, the bitterness and crushed future I experienced during that dark period were all swept away.
You can't get more specific than my Leslie McKeown dream. You can't get much darker than the self-destructive path he'd been on until he rose to the surface, clean and sober a few years ago. The audience I was a part of gave him a joyous night. His meet and greet with the three of us gave me a new lease on life.
Champion of the Arts - I write historical and paranormal fiction, as well as poetry. I love to showcase creative works by artists of all stripes. Blogging from Nova Scotia, Canada
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