The Man Had Cartoon Feet

Butter takes a really long time to soften when you want to make cookies right now and the only butter of the unsalted variety you have is in the freezer. Even when it’s 80 degrees inside because you have the door open to hear the wind chimes.

Today’s Exploit:

The other night I fed my addiction for the first time in, oh, almost a year.

I got to leave the rig on Friday. I happened to look up the calendar for the Dallas Swing Dance Society. It said that there was an event in Fort Worth.

So I wasted all day at the mall and in the container store just so that I could still be in town.

I also drove in rush hour traffic for 2.7 hours because Timmy the GPS got lost and said there were no highways where, clearly, there were 7 or 8 of them.

But eventually I arrived at my new favorite dance locale. And the sun was going down and the breeze was blowing so it was only 75.3 degrees, instead of 91.4 like it was in my car. It was a nice reprieve after roasting most of the day.

Eventually I went inside and watched the 18 piece band assemble and warm up and, finally, start to play.

Then the dancing began!

It was very different from the swing dances I’ve been to in the past. This one had attendees that were probably alive when this type of dancing first became popular.

I watched and watched and smiled and sang along.

Then I got really courageous. You’ll never believe it.

You won’t.

I went up to a stranger and asked him to dance with me.

And he said yes!

Success!

We danced and it was lots of fun.

Then I went back to my table and shook with nerves through the next two songs.

Finally I calmed down and smiled and sang and tapped my feet some more.

Then I noticed that the older woman sitting at the table next to mine was up and dancing. So I decided to ask her partner to dance. Sadly he had a bum leg. But we talked for a while and watched the dancers.


Then the song ended and I went back to my seat. That was when someone came and asked me to dance. And I was really nervous and stumbled all over the place. It was tragic.

During the next few dances I saw THE MAN.

In a normal crowd I probably wouldn’t have noticed him. But dancing he was the star of the show. He knew all the pauses and accents. And his feet were so fast that they were a blur, and hypnotizing.

I eventually got up the guts to go ask him, but on my way I was accosted by someone else. The someone else was a very enthusiastic dancer. Unfortunately he couldn’t keep a beat and had a frame like a dead fish. But it was still fun. And challenging, like putting together a puzzle with no picture reference, mostly guessing.

It was a few songs later that I finally got a chance to ask THE MAN again.

And he even said yes.

Success!

We danced and it was AWSOME. Except I was so mesmerized by his feet that I had a hard time concentrating on dancing myself.

But we made it through the song and he even told me I was a good dancer. Even though I stumbled through half the steps because I haven’t done them in eleven months and 2 hours.

He even asked me to dance a couple times after that. It never got any easier to not stare at his feet.

I believe that this must be the end for today. I’ll regale you with more details at a later date. My mind is still overflowing with the fact that HE said I was a good dancer.