Much to my supreme and utter disgust, the last two weeks took its toll on my stamina.  I was forced to cut my dance night short before 9:00!  In my defense, the line dance lessons were killer and I wasn’t the only one forced to rest afterwards.  But it still sticks in my craw that my legs were getting wobbly by 8:45. 

The good news is, my girl friends were not forced to call out the militia to track me down, and let me know in no uncertain terms that had I not shown my face tonight, that would have been their next step!  We dance fanatics don’t miss a dance night unless we have a VERY good reason!  It’s so good to have friends who understand! 

I got my share of hugs tonight, and I know it is doing wonders to get me back to 100% healthy!  Part of staying home sick that sucks is missing the hugs and the camaraderie that is so important to good physical, emotional and mental health. 

Best of all, despite the short night, I got in 6,000 steps according to my Fitbit, most of it between 6:00 and 8:45 tonight, so all in all, the evening was a rousing success.

In case you’re interested, here’s the line dance we learned tonight. 
It’s quick with a lot of turns and changing syncopations so not only
are your feet working, but so is your brain!   It’s called “In My Heart”.  I know I’ll be practicing it in my living room for the next few days!  When we learn a dance like this, I find myself remembering how grateful I am that we took up the carpet a couple of years ago!  I now have a decent practice room!   If I have my way, I’ll be letter perfect by Saturday night!  (The nice thing is, this one really follows the music, so once I get it, muscle memory will just take me away!)

If you do take the time to watch, I’d like you to hold a picture in your mind.  We first learned this dance on our line dance cruise at the end of February, when Southern California was hit with some massive rain storms.  While we didn’t hit much rain at sea, we did experience the roughest seas Carnival had seen for this particular route in a long time.  Needless to say, when we’d kick and get ready to put our foot down, there was no telling quite where the floor beneath us might be!  At times, it came up to meet us, but at others, it was a looooooooooooong way down!  As a result, for many of us “Cruisers”, it’s as if we’re learning an entirely new dance.  One thing is for certain, few, if any of us, remember it from the cruise!

So, our brains are fried, our bodies are tired, but a good time was had by all!

My gratitudes tonight are:
1. I am grateful to be back on my dance schedule.
2. I am grateful to be regaining my strength and stamina.
3. I am grateful to have a dance to work on that will challenge my brain over the next few days.
4. I am grateful for my friends who miss me when I’m gone and are concerned if I’m gone to long.
5. I am grateful for my new table buddies on Saturday nights, and for all of the girls who feel comfortable joining me on Thursdays too!

Love and light.