Finding Happiness

Glimmer Lawrence: Finding Happiness

            Many people go through life unhappy, unsure, and unexcited. Glimmer Lawrence was one of these people until she found dance. She quickly moved up classes, and went on pointe. Would you know what to do if everything you relied on was disrupted? Glimmer lost happiness, but with perseverance and help, she found her way. 

Glimmer was just a normal college girl. She attends at Julliard Performing Art's School, majoring in dance, specifically ballet. A bonus is that her boyfriend, Isaac, is her “performing ballet 203" class partner. She lives in a very lush condo/loft in upper east Manhattan, with her fraternal sister Rue who was helping her renovate. Rue is attending Parson’s New School of Design on a scholarship, although she doesn't need it. Then Glimmer takes a spill in class doing attitude turns, and all goes wrong.

When Glimmer is in her second ballet class of the day one early autumn Thursday, her teacher, Madame Forttuia says in her heavily accented French voice "We will begin with a triple attitude turn. Glimmer will start,” She was starting her third and final turn when her pointe shoe ribbon unraveled, catching on her shoe; she spun crazily out of control, and cried out in pain. When she landed she saw a glimpse of her ankle, bent in an extremely wrong way, before she slumped to the ground, unconscious. After she awoke in her hospital bed germinated by "get well" cards, she noticed the purple cast running from her pedicured toes to her well lotioned knee. In the days to come, Glimmer contemplates her dependence on dance for happiness, while looking at Isaac’s face, gold in the washed sunlight of the hospital room. She realizes that she has simply forgotten to enjoy the simple joys in life, and wants to live her life to the fullest.

Despite being humdrum; when Glimmer was recovering at home, she enjoyed cooking. She would flip to a random page of her Mom’s vintage ‘Joy of Cooking’ and cook the most interesting thing on those two pages. She came to love the rich smells of the spicy Jambalaya, and the sweet scent of crepes. Rue especially liked the triple devil chocolate food cake she came home to one day. When glimmer finally went back to dance, she knew she only liked cooking as a hobby. The dance floor was where she belonged, but she found the best way to get there.

Glimmer’s dynasty at the hospital made her realize she was too dependent on a single source. Finding little joys in life she broadened her mind (and helped Rue stop eating Cup-o-noodles). Now Glimmer, age 20, dancer, can make the yummiest Zabaglione La Cinzianelle you’ve ever had.