Trying not to break my feet...

Yes, I'm jumping up and down. But that's not what's threatening to break my feet. It's all the name-dropping I've been doing the past 10 days since my friend, Gaye, invited me to be her date for the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award Gala honoring Morgan Freeman happening this coming Thursday at Sony Pictures in LA. It was probably enough that I wrote about Oprah in last week's blog post. But this invitation has transported me back to my starstruck teen years when I loved everything Hollywood.

Gaye, now an actor and renowned astrologer, serves on the Board of AFI. I've written about her in my blog more than once. She's my "oldest" - as in "longest term" - friend. We met at a beach on Balboa Island when we were four years old. Our mothers were best friends for life. Gaye's mom worked for CBS and my mom was an interior designer. Our dads were musicians. Gaye's father was a famous bandleader in the 1930's and 40's, Harmon Oscar Nelson, Jr. My dad, a pharmaceutical rep, played banjo for fun in a Dixieland band with a bunch of doctors from Fullerton. Gaye's dad had been married before he married her mom, Anne. His first wife was the actress Bette Davis and she called him "Oscar." His biggest claim to eternal fame is a gold statuette that Bette won and immediately named it after him because there was a posterior resemblance. That story is in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences history books.

When our family got together with the Nelson's, it was all about music and entertainment. Amazingly, all these years later, that's still what it's all about when Gaye and I and our families get together. We may not MAKE music, but we love listening to it. And we entertain one another with stories - great stories, happy and sad, of the past, present and future. It's a rich friendship.

Recently, Gary and I went with Gaye and Rick and our mutual friends, Sandy and Kirk, to the Hollywood premiere of "Midnight in Paris" at the Academy Theatre. Before the movie, we met at Kate Mantilini Restaurant, where Gaye said, "Are you doing anything on June 9th?" I checked my e-calendar and saw that the only thing set for that day were the words "Gaye's birthday." I thought she was going to invite me to lunch or a dinner party. She pulled out an invitation and said, "Rick can't go, so I thought you might like to join me for this event because it's my birthday." I looked down and saw a photo of Morgan Freeman, one of my very favorite actors, on the front of the invitation card. I took a deep breath and opened the card. And then I started jumping up and down, right there in the restaurant! I couldn't contain my glee!

And that brings me to trying not to break my feet. A week after writing about Oprah in this blog, I'm still dropping the names of the event committee members - Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Jack Nicholson, Helen Mirren, Steven Spielberg, Alfre Woodard, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Hilary Swank, Sidney Poitier, Jim Carrey, Ben Affleck and many more names I just can't remember right now. Dropping all those names threatens to break more than a toe, so I'm trying now to just chill out and quietly look forward to Thursday. I'm not fussing about my formal dress the way I thought I would because it's too soon for me to lose 10 pounds. I'll just be myself, muffin top and all - comfy and classy, with good hair and makeup.

My starstruck days are not over after all. One of the items on my "Planet List" - my version of a "Bucket List" (thank you, Morgan Freeman) because it's stuff I want to do while still here on the planet - is to meet or shake hands with 10 of my favorite stars of stage, screen, sports and business - Clint Eastwood, Oprah, Bill Gates, Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg, Diane Sawyer, Helen Mirren. Of course, I also want to visit the Great Wall, the Sydney Opera House and Venice, and to be able to walk up the bleacher steps at both the Indy and Daytona 500 races!

And now, please excuse me while I go out in the back patio and jump up and down again on this beautiful spring Sunday. Jack Nicholson? Clint Eastwood? Helen Mirren? Tom Hanks? MORGAN FREEMAN?!! Seriously....