Reunion With Darlene and Jerry Gilbert and Gary Forman - Thursday, June 28, 2012

Many skaters don't know that Gary Forman and I were Darlene Gilbert's first ice dance team in southern California. My dad encouraged Darlene to come to southern California.



My dad is also responsible for matching me up with Gary, and also getting him interested in ice dancing.

Under Darlene's amazing coaching, Gary passed his Pre-Gold dance test in less than one year! Gary was already a talented singles skater, and dance was easy for him.

During my recent trip to Long Bea

ch, Joel and I, and my dad drove all the way from Long Beach to Temecula to Darlene's beautiful home to reunion. It is a special day we will all remember.

We are hoping we see one another again.

Who would have thought in 1970 when Gary and I teamed up and took lessons from Darlene, that over 40 years later, we'd all be together again with not only my dad, but our children and loving families?! We got to meet Gary's beautiful wife, Nit, and his son Ja. Darlene's husband, Jerry, was a delight to be with too!

Fiddler on the Roof!

The weekend of June 8, 9, and 10, 2012 will be remembered by our family as the weekend where the kids took part in a very professional production of Fiddler on the Roof that took place at Colorado College. The Colorado Springs Conservatory put on the production.

 We were so very fortunate to be asked to take part in the Ensemble. The kids had an awesome experience.

The kids were in the opening number, Tradition, Sabbath Prayer (Rebekah on-stage and Joel singing off stage), To Life - L'Chaim (Joel), The Dream, The Wedding (Annabelle, Joel, and Rebekah), Rumors (Joel and Rebekah), Annatevka, and the Finale. Joel had one line. (He said, "It was a mule!" in the opening act!) 

The kids danced and sang and made friends and had a great experience. There were ten hour long rehearsals the week before the production, and the entire experience took up about a month of our lives. All sorts of friends and family came to see the play including my dad and Dan's family.