Dollie Family

The summer before my junior year in college, I returned to school early to live with a local family in Menlo Park, the Parsinens. As a new Stanford Dollie, it was tradition for the 5 girls each year to spend a month at summer's end choreographing and practicing all of the routines we would be dancing to for football season. We each lived with a different family who had hosted Dollies in years past. They were affectionately and appropriately known as Dollie families. The Parsinens were so wonderful to me, both as a Dollie, and for so many years beyond. Dede is the true Dollie Mommy, and next to my own amazing mother, was someone I've always been able to talk openly with about anything. I've watched her girls Jenny and Samantha grow up (sister Cammie is close to my age) - Sam was only 7 when I lived with them and Jenny was 9. Jenny was a dance major in college at UCI and for all those years, I attended most of her performances. Now an actress who has recently moved from New York to Los Angeles, it's exciting to know she and her husband are not that far away. I have kept in touch with the entire family over the years, but haven't seen anyone since Jenny's wedding in 2005. Until a few weekends ago, that is. Dede emailed to say she and Jenny wanted to come down and visit with me and Lauren, whom they had heard so much about, but had never met. I was so excited to see them and introduce my own incredible daughter. They arrived after ballet on Saturday and it was as if we had never been apart. Lauren had heard so much about them, including how Jenny was a dancer and actress. All Lauren wanted to do was hang onto Jenny for dear life and never let go. We had barely finished our lunch when Lauren dragged Jenny into the office for a little crazy dance session and booty shaking, all recorded via video on the IMac. You would never know Jenny is now a 34-year-old woman. She easily looks 10 years younger (as does her mama) and as can be seen, loves nothing more than being silly and goofy. No wonder Lauren adored her. Can hardly wait until she's a mama herself. The four of us had such an amazing afternoon. Lauren clung to them when they left and I made them swear up and down that we will not let this amount of time go by before we get together again. I'm not only going to hold them to that, but plan to hold myself accountable too. Time flies so quickly. Seems like just yesterday I was that 19-year-old college student, learning how to swivel my hips to "All Right Now" (I was the only one without any formal dance training) and hanging out with the girls after rehearsal in our Dollie families' yards, excited about the present and sharing dreams of the future. To think that was 25 years ago and I now have a daughter close in age to Jenny and Sam when I lived with them, is, well, there are simply no words. Just wow. Making time to not only think about those in your life who are truly special, but to also see them, tell them, and be with them, is not optional, it's a necessity. Thank you, Dede and Jenny (and the rest of your family), for your love and friendship for so many years. For welcoming Lauren as the newest member of our Dollie family. Looking forward to creating many more memories with all of us. Love you.