This afternoon, [Ophelia] Beth Sherby and I were playing music on Main Street at the Bethlehem Harvest Festival. During sound check we had captured the full attention of an elderly woman in attendance who I strongly suspect is homeless. She was loaded down, wearing multiple layers, with two bags – all of her belongings – and a cup of coffee in hand.
She smiled and swayed, tapped her feet and clapped her hands, and at some point was doing high kicks in the air. She must be nearly 80 years old, and Beth and I both looked at each other in disbelief as she got her foot high above her head, reached out and grabbed the toe of her shoe with one hand, then went right back to dancing in time.
When she decided to move on, she walked up to the stage and pulled out a wad of paper towel from one her bags. She carefully picked out a small handful of loose coins and very joyfully dropped it in our tip bucket.
Good day to you, dear. Dance on and let the music feed your soul.
DINA HALL 