Dear Mr. Swayze,

"Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

That's your line. It's iconic. I hope you were proud to leave it as a legacy.

Johnny Castle taught an entire generation of ladies (and maybe gentlemen too) that dirty dancing can be beautiful dancing. He taught us to not judge the book, or the dancer, by the cover, and indeed he taught us to never settle for being put in a corner.

I'm sure you inspired countless injuries (and YouTube videos) as people of all ages have tried to perfect that lift year after year after year. And no one, no one respectably long in the tooth, hears that song without remembering you (not Johnny Castle...you) fondly.

Time of my Life

Dalton taught us that it's important to be nice..."until it's time to not be nice."

Vida taught us that "some men need to be hit back," and even Bodhi taught us the importance of 100% adrenaline.  I may have listened to Bodhi just a little more than I should have. "Little hand says it's time to rock 'n roll!"

One of my favorite quotes, though, came from you, not one of your characters. "How do you nurture a positive attitude when all the statistics say you're a dead man? You go to work." You went on to explain that the work is whatever you love. You keep at it. You play with your kids. You dance with your wife. You shoot a movie if there's one to be shot. You go to the work of life, but no matter what, you don't give up. You don't give in. You never sit down and be done.

And you didn't.

I don't know a character you played I didn't love. You made me love them all. If you have a crap role out there, I hope I never discover it.

You are the reason ditto is on my list of top ten favorite words, and I hope and pray that Sam was right. "It's amazing, Molly. The love inside. You take it with you."