This American's not in Paris - he's in my subconscious. And what a lovely place that is...

Last night this American icon visited me in my dreams. In real life, tonight I am taking the teenage girls from my church to sing to and visit with residents at an assisted living center. One of the songs they are performing is "Singin' in the Rain". I suppose that's what made me dream of him...

In my dream, I dreamt Mr. Kelly drove up in a rickshaw (?!) and asked if he could come along.
"Of course!", I tell him. Then I ask someone with a camera to take our picture and when he seems confused by my request, I proceed to gush over him and say things like, "This is the best day of my life!" or "I've seen most of your movies" or "As a teenager my mom was in love with you" and even "Will you teach me to dance like Cyd Charisse?"

The rest of the dream is a blur, but I recall cameo appearances by Judy Garland and the guy that plays the cop on Dumb & Dumber. No matter how it ended, there are worse things than waking up with Gene Kelly on the brain. ;)

Forget that he passed away when I was sixteen years old. I mean, look at this guy - such a strong, graceful dancer! Not to mention he could sing! True, his voice didn't sound as refined as Frank Sinatra, but maybe that's what I like about it...it seems untrained in a genuine, down-to-earth way. Ever heard "Moses Supposes" that he sings with Donald O'Connor from Singin' in the Rain? Don't forget his million-dollar smile. What woman wouldn't swoon with those eyes (and lips!) pointed her direction? ;) I love whenever Gene Kelly smiled his eyes smiled, too - with a little twinkle!

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And the thing that amazes me most about Gene Kelly is the same thing that blows me away when I watch Fred Astaire - that overabundance of creativity! The moves and ideas they come up with in their dance routines is jaw-dropping. For example, watch this video from It's Always Fair Weather (normally, I'm a big musical fan but I have to admit the lyrics of this song bring a new element to cheesy...however, watch it at least for 2 1/2 minutes. Even a non-musical critic would have to be impressed that Gene could time and pace his skates to reach his marks so precisely and then to TAP dance on skates??? I can barely make it around a rink (not straying too far from the wall, mind you) without falling on my keester!):

I love one fan wrote about Gene Kelly:

"I wonder if he ever falls during his routines.

Oh, wait, he's Gene Kelly. He never falls -

instead the rest of us just fall for him!"

Amen!!!

"I just had the strangest dream..."

Brett has long-since learned when I start a sentence with those words, it's best if he doesn't press me for more information. I admit it. I have the strangest, most outrageous dreams. They cannot be explained and some I'm too embarrassed to confess about, but today's dream was too funny not to share.

I dreamt Ice-T...

...(yes, "Finn" from Law & Order: SVU, which I'm well aware I might be too obsessed about, and this may just be the nail in the coffin for that argument) and I were working a case together involving:

Yes. Melissa Joan Hart. Although in this SVU/HOPE episode, she was back to her "Clarrisa Explains It All" years (remember, Alison???). Anyway, the details are fuzzy, but we're investigating her and suddenly the floor caves in below us and we're left holding onto a water pipe to avoid falling to our deaths.

Yes. Like they held onto in Twister. Except they were trying to stay down, and we were trying to stay up.

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We survived, and as we walk away from the rubble, we are suddenly at a carnival. In the center of the carnival is a big meadow where all my family and friends are, and get this, my dad, dressed in a tux, turns in his lawn chair to look at me and is smiling (you'll see why that is inexplicable in the next sentence). We stop walking and Ice-T gets down on one knee, holds up an opened ring box (BLING!), and says, "Please say Yes!"

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Yes. Ice-T just proposed. He just popped the question to a white Mormon girl from Utah after a life-altering, Clarissa-Twister-filled survival experience, for which I will most definitely have PTSD and have to receive counseling. I don't say anything (there's that PTSD kicking in), but I am ushered into one of those beach changing room things

(although we're not on the beach, remember. We're at a carnival. With Ice-T and my exuberant Dad). I get in there and see a garment bag hanging on the wall. Ice-T says sweetly through the door, "I took the liberty of picking you a dress."

Yes. It looks like this. Even the hat. I had to laugh out loud when I googled "80's Wedding Dresses" because this image popped up and it's exactly what happened in my dream. As I saved it to my desktop on the computer, I mumbled to myself, "Unbelievable." It really is the spittin' image of my dear Ice-T's selection. Except I didn't have a bouquet, we're at a carnival (not the White Cliffs of Dover), I am not smiling--I am confused--and my groom wasn't blonde.

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I put the dress on and then what is happening finally dawns on me. In a fit of rage I storm out of the wooden structure and a confused Ice-T looks at me with a concerned furrowed brow. I start yelling at him that how dare he plan my wedding without me and how dare he make me wear a dress like this!

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Then I woke up and couldn't stop shaking my head with a goofy smile plastered on my face.

You know...the "What the heck?" look.

At last I decided to blog about it, just hoping I can give you a goofy smile today, too.

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You're welcome.

(or one WEIRD gal, however you look at it)