We asked Donna to update the feature we did on her last year. She was kind enough to write another article to share with all of us. This is what she had to say

Ray and Connie have asked me to update the portion of their web pages that had my first letter from last year.

I still have all the feelings most everyone else from the Club Dance "era" has. I'm still waiting for the old adage of "time heals all wounds" to take effect. One year after the show ended, I'm still struggling with filling the big hole in my life that was left when CD ended. The obvious and easiest thing to do is to work more. And I have to say I have done that to some extent. But one of the wonderful things about the show was that it captured actual lives and events and those events have continued to happen even though there's no camera to record it for EVERYONE to see.

Donna & Phil clowning around!

1999 was a big year, birthday wise, for me and for Mary Anne, my daughter. I turned 50 in October and she turned 21 in November. My birthday celebration was very low key and since it was only about a week before Mary Anne's we decided to put them together. The two of us planned a weekend in Gatlinburg and enjoyed shopping and leisurely enjoying the town. Then we joined a group of Club Dancers at Cotton Eyed Joes in Knoxville to dance and visit. It was for Mary Anne's birthday that Cal P. finally finished writing a song that he'd been writing about Mary Anne. It was a terrific gift.

Mother & Daughter!

It's been fun getting the old gang together to dance. I've learned that we have a great grapevine, helped out by e-mail, and all you have to do is put out the word that a "gathering" is planned and bunches of people show up. Did you see the Kevin Costner movie Field Of Dreams and the line "build it and they will come". Well it's true of Club Dancers….plan it and they will come.

Ray and Connie's web site has announced all of the weddings, etc. that have happened in the last year. It is wonderful and sometimes surprising! And we get to visit with each other.

My personal status is pretty boring right now. There's no one steady in my life but I'm trying to be more involved in the area single ministries sponsored by different churches. That is how it all began with me several years ago when I met Leslie S. at a singles function and we decided to start taking dance lessons together….and the rest, as they say, is history. Maybe I can get lightning to strike twice and there's another single dancer out there for me to meet. That's not to say that anything has happened to Leslie. He's still here and we still get together to use our Dollywood season passes and to dance some.

Mary Anne and I went back to Tempe, AZ in January 2000 for another football bowl game. This time the outcome wasn't like we wanted it but it was a neat place to be to ring in the beginning of the new millennium. Champaign out in the desert was a wonderful plan.

Donna & Mary Anne at a VOLS football game!

I'm now busy planning another summer Club Dance hayride. Lance from CD has suggested that we also add a Riverboat cruise this year so we can dance and relax even more. Keep checking Ray and Connie's web site for pictures from this year's outing which will probably be sometime in June.

In the meantime I'm going to continue to keep my fingers crossed and my dance shoes polished and ready for a new show. Maybe we'll get good news this year!

This is Donna's family. Her mother and Father
and of course, Mary Anne!

Another picture of the family.

These two are avid VOLS fans
and are waiting for the football season to begin!

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