As a 32 year old woman, Patrick Swayze played a huge parts in my sleepovers during the late 80’s.  I cannot tell you the number of time my BFF and I would pause the ol’ VHS of Dirty Dancing at the exact moment you caught a glimpse of his butt as he got out of bed.  In the early 90’s when my fragile 13 year old heart was broken for the first time, I quietly sobbed with my mom in a darkened theater as he told Demi Moore how much he loved her.  To be honest, I haven’t given Patrick Swayze a thought in a long time but I felt a bit of a pang in my heart when I read of his passing and a rush of memories of days gone by.

One thing I always thought was fantastic about Patrick Swayze was his marriage that lasted over thirty years: an amazing feat in and of itself, but by Hollywood standards it’s almost unheard of.  They were dance partners from their teen years and I’m sure there was dancing until the end.  Lisa Niemi  stood by her husband through super stardom, addiction and in the end, the cancer that took his life.  Seeing the pair interviewed was so heart warming - it’s not all that often you see two people so completely and utterly devoted to one another.  Swayze was vocal about his marriage to Lisa and I’ve found some beautiful quotes that are telling of their lives together:

From Lester Middlehurst. “Drink, suicide and why I turned against Hollywood.” DailyMail.co.uk. 11/29/2005:

“We were friends for a long time before we became lovers. We even lived and slept together for a year before we had sex. That wasn’t easy.”

“I suppose it’s about keeping love alive, learning how to fall in love over and over again, not taking each other for granted, forgiveness, trust. Whatever it is, it works for us.”

From Courtney Hazlett, People Magazine. 9/05/2005:

“We’ve always been a team. We raise horses together, run a music business and a wildlife preserve together. We have an unspoken language after all these years. We just celebrated our 30th anniversary.”

From the biography Patrick Swayze: One Last Dance of a dance her shared with his wife on stage at the World Music Award in 1994:

“It was a very special experience for me for the world to see what an absolutely beautiful miracle angel she is.”

My heart goes out to his wife for the loss of her very special husband and a very special marriage.