Sciatic Shuffle

    One should never do the extended version of the Cha-Cha Slide when their Sciatic nerve is on the fritz.....I'd like to think that I sat down at the computer in the kitchen to write tonight because of my burning need to express myself...but it could just as easily be because of the burning in my shoulder and hip, and my need to rest before attempting the steps that lead to my bed! You see....we had a dance tonight....at the Church....that's right....at the Baptist Church. Young people....old people....and all kinds of in between people. A Valentines Dinner/Dance, with beautiful decorations, Steak, and a most excellent play list for the dancing - beach music, Moves Like Jagger music, Twist music, fun line dancing music, and of course - a little bit of Romantic Music....it is almost Valentines, after all. I wish I could download my memory - so that you could see the pictures I am seeing, as I sit here - sciatic nerve in my hip throbbing - foot slightly numb....But I'll do my best to describe it - because it really was quite a night. Our new Youth Minister is a dancing machine - he's my  Hero, because he did the unthinkable...he made the dancing seem cool and fun - and before you knew it, Middle School boys were dancing with Middle School girls - high school girls were dancing with each other...the High School Boys....well...you can't win 'em all! Fathers were dancing with Daughters, Mothers were dancing with Sons (I sure did miss College Boy), Teens dancing with the "old folks", and the four and five year olds were dancing with helium balloons that had once been centerpieces! "Pillars" of the community were ripping off their bow ties, swinging them over their heads Gagnum Style, and having a blast. A beloved Gentleman who is slowly forgetting himself and those around him, cut quite a figure as his sense memory guided him as he danced - a beautiful slow dance.
    I love to dance - always have, always will - and it was fun to teach a 13 year old how to dance to Beach Music, nice to slow dance with my sweetie, and worth every minute of  Sciatic agony I will experience tonight -  to Cha-Cha Slide, do the YMCA, the Macarena, the Cupid Shuffle, the Twist....The familiarity of our Fellowship, the joy we felt from laughing and playing together turned the ordinary into the extraordinary. In the grand scheme of Society, our Valentines Dance was a little thing - hardly worth notice, really....except, to my way of thinking, it was so much more. It was 1st Graders in Beautiful dresses....2 little guys enthralled with pink and red helium balloons, and using them as dance partners....a celebration of a 61st Anniversary.....it was a gaggle of teen-aged girls gathered around the handsome exchange student....it was a team of men, adorned with Aprons, cooking for a multitude......it was a time for splitting the last piece of pie...a time for thoughtful teens, bringing coffee to their elders....a time for laughter and family and kinship........it was a celebration of a young widow and widower - how they found each other and blended their children into one big beautiful new family.... a time to forget the aches and pains that make days a  chore.... it was a simple pleasure of togetherness, baked potatoes, and heart paper chains....the best of Life - for this Mid Life Wife.