Dirty Dancing

This morning, the alarm radio that woke me up told me that Patrick Swayze had died. At the age of 57. From Pancreatic Cancer. I'm taking it hard.

Though Patrick Swayze's influence is pale in comparison to some of our recent celebrity dearly departed, for some reason that I am having trouble articulating, his loss is very effecting. There is something very profound in the loss of a childhood icon.

Dirty Dancing came out in 1987. Ghost came out in 1990.

The former made me want to dance. The latter made me want to fall in love.

My idea of romance, of love and loss and of mortality was shaped by Ghost. Perhaps at the age of 7, it was the first romantic movie that I recognized as such. "Unchained Melody" has never felt cliche or overplayed to me.

I hear it and I cry.