In the early 70's I went to New York City to study summer ballet at the Joffrey School. I had never been to NYC before. My plane landed late and by the time I got a taxi and made it to the Ladies Boarding House where I was to stay for the summer, the doors were locked. The taxi was still there so I took it to the Hilton. Next morning I arrived back at the Boarding House and several other dancers were already waiting on the steps. I got in line and behind me came a pretty girl who also lined up. We entered the office at the same time and she & I were assigned to be roommates for the summer. Her name was Kathy. (Had I arrived on time the night before I would have been assigned to a room with a different girl.) At the end of the session, I went back to Nevada & Kathy went back to Mississippi. We wrote back-and-forth for a while the lost contact with each other. Fast forward 16 years or so... Desi & I were married in 1987 and were watching a ballet competition on TV one night and I saw Kathy dancing -- but the name on the screen was Kathy Thibodeaux and my Kathy's last name wasn't Thibodeaux. Desi then said that Keith Thibodeaux (who played Little Ricky on the "I Love Lucy" Show) had married a ballerina. Came to realize my Kathy married Lucy & Desi's TV son and I married the real-life son! Coincidence? Out of the thousands of young girls who flood NYC each summer to study ballet in the world's greatest schools, how on earth did Kathy & I end up together and then years later marry these two men who were childhood friends?

We saw Kathy again in the mid-90's when her ballet company - Ballet Magnificat! - was on tour in Las Vegas and again in September 2003 when she & Keith came to Boulder City to visit Desi & I. Kathy is more beautiful than ever (see picture above). The picture to the right is Desi & Keith together for the first time in 10 years.. Two of our students have gone to study summer ballet at Ballet Magnificat! in Jackson, Mississippi and one of them is now an apprentice with the company. And guess what her name is? Lisa Thibodeau. Another coincidence that Lisa has the same last name as Kathy & Keith?

Visit Kathy's school at www.balletmagnificat.com