NO BRIEF CANDLE ~ Dee's Story

Born in Berlin in 1922 to a matinee idol and an opera singer, Dee shares Anita's background as a dancer, but rather than the nightclubs of New York, she sashayed behind Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in the MGM movies of the 40's.  She describes her bohemian childhood in Hollywood and New York City, raised amidst a tight group that included Norma Shearer, Charlie Chaplain, Mary Pickford and Noel Coward.  However, Dee's real passions were planted in education, not celebrity, and we hear of her work as a journalist and professor, as well as her motto: "Peace, Prosperity, and Protection of the Environment."

We travel with Dee to Yosemite National Park where she once lived and worked for the photographer Ansel Adams, an experience that spawned romances with both her future husband and with nature.  In quiet, hushed scenes in which Dee reverently drinks up the natural beauty around her, viewers will palpably feel how profoundly nature can nurture, and how such moments possess their own sense of fullness. Yosemite represents a potent touch point for Dee, and our visit sets in motion a shift deep within her. 

For a year preceding her return, Dee had been caring for her ailing stepmother despite her own advanced age. She speaks poignantly about being in such close proximity to death, the impending loss of a loved one, and the shadow cast on her own mortality. Dee also candidly discloses the restrictions that the caretaking role has placed on her own life, severely limiting her ability to engage in the creative and community work that sustains her sense of joy and purpose. 

She decides to reignite her deep connection to dance as an expression of "joy in motion," and returns to her Afro-Brazilian dance class after a long absence.  Dee describes the primal drumming that accompanies the class as reflecting the "rhythm that is fundamental to life… that is present in every important human experience, part of our breath and the basic energy of the heart."  We see (much) younger friends from her dance community drawn by her infectious joy, and hear how Dee has changed their perspectives on aging.

She also returns to Foodshare, a food bank where she used to volunteer as a writer/publicist. This time she's out of the office and into the fields, joining other retirees as they glean produce from the farms of Ventura, CA to be distributed to the hungry and poor.  As Dee gathers and gabs with her co-workers, we feel their energy and commitment; they lift up themselves as they work to lift up others.

When we travel with Dee to a major national conference on aging, she is walking a little slower, using a cane, and hesitant to venture out like she once did. Nevertheless, she is clearly inspired by what she discovers there: new research on the aging brain, the tangible health benefits of creative engagement in later years, and the importance of staying connected to community ~ issues that resonate deeply within her.

With the leg pain getting worse, Dee, like Anita, worries about her independence, and whether this new development will impede her ability to do that which makes her most joyful  ~ her dancing.