Oh Patrick...

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am tad bit on the obsessed side when it comes to Patrick Swayze and Dirty Dancing. It was the first movie I ever remember truly loving. I probably went though 4 or 5 VHS copies of Dirty Dancing. I would watch it over and over and eventually the film would snap. Thank goodness DVDs have come along! In Junior high I made a Dirty Dancing binder. I printed out the script and lyrics to every song in the movie. Just when I thought I had reached the climax of my Patrick Swayze obsession I found that he and his wife Lisa were going to be my new NEIGHBORS! We have a family cabin in the mountains of New Mexico and he bought a cabin and land right behind our cabin. Every time we made the trip to New Mexico I would walk the mile to his place and PRAY that I would see him. It never happened....Finally when I was a junior in high school we made the annual trip to the cabin. I had my best friend Jenn with me and we were determined to see him. Everyday we would drive over to his driveway and sit at the gate. One day we got hungry so we decided to drive back to our place and get some food and then go back and stake out his house. As we drove back up towards his house our dream came true! There stood Patrick Swayze, shirt off, working in his bard about 15 yards from his gate. I just about died! I begged Jenn to go and talk to him and she finally got up and started to walk closer. He was obviously confused as to what we were doing and so he whistled for his HUGE Rhodesian Ridge-back hoping that we would back off. Conveniently Jenn also had a HUGE Rhodesian Ridge-back so she got down and started to play with her. Finally, Lisa starts walking down the driveway. She is obviously a little annoyed and we felt bad but I wanted to meet him so bad. We told her our intentions and she shot us down. We wee disappointed but not SHOCKED that she told us to go away. That day is by far one of my favorite days in the world. I was so sad when I heard he had passed away. I immediately thought of his wife and it broke my heart. I watched the Barbara Walters special the night he died and she said that he passed away while on his ranch in New Mexico. This makes me feel like I know him personally. Our cabin in New Mexico holds such a special place in my family's heart and I know that the Swayze's felt the same way. I am glad he got to spend the last days of his life in such a special place.