Not Fair.

Patrick Swayze died last night. It's not fair. Cancer is a ruthless villian, but why couldn't it go after someone, and you can insert your own name here, who qualifies as a dreg of society and should be gone before they hurt anyone else. But life isn't fair, reasonable or egalitarian. It's arbitrary and quite painful at times. For Swayze's loved ones, this is one of those painful times.

I never saw "Ghost". I can't remember if I saw "Dirty Dancing". After that came out, I saw a dancing video he made with his wife. His mom was a professional dancer and you could tell she had him moving his feet from a young age. At the time, my ex and I were taking dancing lessons. I often wished my ex had half of Swayze's innate talent. I loved the lessons, they were great fun, good exercise and something we could do together.

I think the best performance Swayze gave was as Vida Boehm in "To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar". I think I wandered into that movie sometime after Swayze had transformed himself because I don't remember realizing it was him at first. Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo looked okay, but other than the slightly gnarled hands and his adam's apple, Swayze had the female look.

And that was so unfair. He looked better as a woman than I did. Now RuPaul has made a career out of being female but Swayze had not. He did the whole "he-man" thing. He was billed as a sex symbol so to become very thoroughly, this woman was more than a little incredible.

At the time, "To Wong Fu" received very little press. Yes, there are plot mechanics that are contrived and it's not an Oscar-calibur film. But, at a time when we mourn his passing, I think it shows just how versatile Patrick Swayze was.

May he rest in peace.

Beverage: English Breakfast tea

Deb