Goodbye Johnny Castle

Yesterday, one of my most favorite actors lost his nearly 2 year battle with pancreatic cancer. I don't know that I have ever cried over the death of a celebrity, but when I heard that Patrick Swayze had passed, I have to admit that I had to wipe away a few tears. Sure there have been celebrity deaths that have shocked me (Phil Hartman, Princess Diana, Michael Jackson), but none that made me sad, as though I personally knew them.

My mom purchased the movie Dirty Dancing when I was 8 years old. I was absolutely captivated by the amazing dance numbers and I fell madly in love with a character by the name of Johnny Castle. Nearly everyday for at least 2 years, I would cue up the movie to the very last dance scene; I had all of the moves down, even though I did not have a partner to dance with. I would try to convince my boyfriends to do the "lift" with me at the swimming pool. Whenever my friends and I would play pretend, I ALWAYS insisted that we pretend it was the summer of 1963 and everybody had to call me "baby". My moms wedding dress was nearly identical to the dress that Jennifer Grey wore in the final dance number, so I wore it everyday as I spun around the living room to "Time of my life." To this day, I have that movie memorized, line by line. Not kidding - ask Jarrod. I would guesstimate that I have watched it at least 500 times in the past 22 years.

Then when I was 11 years old, I fell for a ghost by the name of Sam Wheat. Ghost is another one of my favorites, and though I may not have the entire movie memorized, I do watch it every time I come across it on television. Patrick Swayze put so much of himself into each role that he played, he made each character so real. Even in Too Wong Foo, he was an absolutely gorgeous woman! He could do not wrong.

Today, I keep thinking about his beautiful wife of 34 years, Lisa. I can't imagine what she is going through right now. I watched the Barbara Walters special that they were on earlier this year, and it was obvious that they are soul mates. But even with the sadness of this loss, I am thankful that Patrick is no longer in pain and can be at peace away from the paparazzi and tabloid gossip. Rest in peace Patrick, you will truly be missed.