Anita Was Here

Final Recital

On Friday event was the final dance recital for the Anita DeCourval School of Dance in Bad Axe, MI. It has been a hard year for the DeCourval family, within months Anita lost her mother, and her husband. Anita had been teaching dance in Bad Axe sine 1987, she taught over 800 students in those years and touched all of their lives in some capacity. 

Anita always ended the recital with her solo dance, and this year as her last she danced to the Beyonce song "I Was Here". Not sure there was a dry in the room.

"I was here,
I Lived, I Loved,
I was here,"

Between Anita and Dave they left their mark on this community. Dave kept people safe, and brought soccer to the school well before anyone else was playing it in the midwest. When he passed you could see all the ways he impacted the community.

"I wanna leave my footprints on the sands of time
Know there was something that, meant something that I left behind
When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets
Leave something to remember, so they won't forget"

Anita brought love of the arts, dance and performance. The words from her students, her alums and the mothers was heart warming. Anita made her mark, by doing what she loved and teaching others to love and appreciate it, and by pushing others to be their best.

"I want to say I lived each day, until I died
And know that I meant something in, somebody's life
The hearts I have touched, will be the proof that I leave
That I made a difference, and this world will see"

Cruz clapping for Grannie

I have been blessed to have an amazing family, and to come into another amazing family. There are so many opportunities in life to make a difference, and most people choose to be normal, to fly under the radar, to not take risks... and decide not to leave their mark.

Never thought I would find a leadership motivation lesson in Beyonce lyrics, I guess its just one more thing impressive about Anita, and about the beauty of dance.

"I did, I've done everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I wanna leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here"

Mundial Con Abuelito

Tomorrow starts the World Cup (Mundial for us Latinos) and I will probably watch the opening game in Bad Axe, MI. I will spend some time trying to get Cruz excited, and undoubtably will give up before kick off as I really want to see the game.

Not sure why, but the Mundial always tends to be an emotional time. I was reflecting this morning and got a little misty eyed. As I have written before, I don't always feel that "Latino" (Previous Blog: My Latino Introduction). One thing I was always into, futbol, or as I was taught to call it here in the States, Soccer.

Outside the Silverdome. Abuelito in the middle. 

It was my one Bolivian thing, my one real Latino thing I kept. I played soccer, and I enjoyed it, and I loved to watch it. In 1994 the USA hosted, it was a great time for so many reasons. It finally made soccer cool in the USA (well cooler at least). It was the first time in about 50 years that Bolivia qualified, and man we had a good team! It was the first time my Abuelitos came to the USA, and we got to go to a game (Brazil vs Sweden in the Silverdome).

We didn't get to watch in person, but we watched the games live, at our house. Bolivia vs Germany was the opening game of La Copa Mundial. I actually think it might be the reason why my family finally got cable at the house... (the 1990 World Cup I taped all the games at my Uncles house who had cable and we watched the games later).

I don't remember who sat where, but I like to remember that I sat with my pops, my abuelito, my family and we cheered for Bolivia. They played in the opening game, at Soldier Field (we couldn't afford tickets) against the defending champs. This team, from our poor little country, walked out onto the pitch and made us all proud to be Bolivian. That was my country on TV, we waived flags in our house we cheered that scrappy team to a 0-0 tie at the half. We had a shot! Then a in a bad turn of luck, and what could have been offsides, Germany got an easy goal. So it was 1-0, we put in our ace, the jack of all trades, El Diablo... Marco Etcheverry. He was our hope, he was a top world player, well known for his antics but well known for his dead-on touch.

However, after barely being put in, in the "Kick Seen Round the World" he was tackled (a little dirty) but he got up and kicked (and maybe spit on) the German player. Red card! He was ejected; for that game, and the following game, and Bolivia had to play a man short.

Once again our scrappy team made us proud... they played a man down, but they played heart up, and they held the game to a 1-0 loss. Not bad, could of been better, and I still haven't forgiven El Diablo... he went on to set records in the MLS with Bolivian Teammate Jaime Moreno and I cheered for DC United all those years as our "Bolivian MLS Team". Back to World Cup...

Good game recap video: YouTube

The announcer is a little patronizing to Bolivia... which was the case leading up to the game. The Bolivians earned a good rep for their scrappy play and tenacity to hold Germany, while a man down, to a 1-0 loss. Bolivia would be eliminated in the first round, and Etcheverry made a formal apology to the country.

 I remember the game, and Abuelitos dissent to the lack of an Offside call (mostly because of the FIFA rule change) and then of course to the ejection of Diablo. I am sure he yelled things like"Pucha!", "Que Macana!", "Eso!", "No Pues!" and later how much we all yelled GOOOOL when Bolivia scored a few days later against Spain.

 I remember when we went to the live game, with flags that said, "Brazil, Bolivia Esta Contigo!" We wore our Bolivia shirts and cheered for Brazil. We got to see some great players live, we got to cheer with Abuelito... our Bolivian Family, at a futbol game. Miguel, my brother reminded me how surprised he was that Abuelita went to the game... it was her first soccer game, that wasn't something women did, but its something my Abuelita got to do.

 From the Panini World Cup Sticker books, to the ungodly amount of flags, schedules, cheering and crying that happens during the World Cup... I am glad it is back...

 Well the 2014 Copa Mundial won't be the same... Cruz isn't into the game, yet. I hope that someday I get to sit next to him cheering for Bolivia in the Mundial, next to his Abuelito, and we will protest calls, yell GOL and be proud of being Bolivian.