New Years Eve 2011

This year we decided to travel a short distance from Peachtree City to Mid-Town Atlanta to the Four Seasons Hotel. Whenever we spend the night in an Atlanta hotel we try to take on a visitor's persona and do things we don't routinely do in the ATL.  We really acted like tourists. We spent the afternoon at the Salvador Dali exhibit which we have seen at least twice already. Then we went back to hotel and  took a nap. At 9 o'clock we had dinner in the Park 7 restaurant where the meal was extraordinary and the service impeccable and perfectly paced. We finished dinner about 11:30. The band was great as we danced through dinner. As a teenager, I worked at this Jewish country club in North Atlanta called the "Standard Club" and I would watch what I thought were wealthy patrons eat, drink and dance their way through the night. I believed that they were special and  I was there to serve and facilitate their happiness. I never thought that I would ever have the means or the opportunity to partake in such gala events. Here we were, two Grady babies, dressed to the nines and  feeling like we were on a movie set creating our own movie. God is good and the world does turn. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves to make sure that we are not dreaming. The older I get and  the more I travel, I realize how blessed we are in this country and how far we have come. I think sometimes we forget that 150 years ago (four or five generations ago) our ancestors were slaves.That 80 years ago or less most of our ancestors were share croppers and lived in rural America and that 50 years ago Jim Crow laws were in full force and people like the former Governor of Georgia, Lester Maddox, could stand in the door way of his Atlanta restaurant  and say, "no Blacks allowed". On this last day of 2010, we had only traveled about 30 miles in distance, but in our hearts and spirits we had traveled through time and memories we thought we had forgotten.

Happy New Year!