Of Wild Natives and Left Feet

I arrived early at the Hangar, so I curled up in a recliner upstairs with "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" and attempted to read while the natives (half a dozen kids 7 and under) ran amuck. Hope (age 5) crawled into my lap and rummaged through my purse for fun. For some women their purse is sacred territory -- no one may look into it -- but for me... I could care less. Half the time it serves as a diaper bag or source of entertainment for children. Soon, I had about four children either sitting in my lap or standing around waiting for a turn with the iPod. At least I finished reading the introduction.

The party itself was pretty fun... when I finally came downstairs with all the children in tow. (No matter where I go, there is sure to be either kids or animals following me... maybe I should be a zoo-keeper.) I sat with the Glenn sisters during dinner, laughing and munching on my salad (aka bunny food), before leaving early to pick up Julia for swing club.

Jer didn't come with me this time, so I had ample freedom to dance with other guys. When we arrived, I noticed the small amount of male presence -- 11 guys total (out of a couple dozen females). Great, guess I'll be doing the guy's part again.

"You should go ask a guy to dance with you," suggested Jules.

"That's the guy's job to ask. I refuse to be the one to initiate. They're supposed to be the ones to initiate and lead." I then proceeded to jump on my soapbox as Julia and her friend Rochenda stared at me in mute amazement.

Surprisingly, partners were not a problem for me that night because I had six different guys ask me to dance. Unfortunately, only half of them knew what they were doing.

One of my dance partners really creeped me out -- reminded me of Grima Wormtongue from LOTR. He must have been around 30 or so -- short, pale, with a goofy smile and two left feet -- and looked really out of place with the rest of us college students and older couples. I told Jules that he looked like an internet stalker, but she just laughed at me.

"You're really brave to be dancing in thongs," he commented as he led me to the dance floor. My eyebrows shot up a mile. They're called flip-flops, you moron. He then proceeded to "teach" me some "moves" that involved his arms around my waist. I thought about "accidentally" stepping on his two left feet. Needless to say, I avoided him the rest of the night. Very few women volunteered to be his dancing partner, so he would stand on the sidelines and smile at me. I told Jules to look like we're having an important and intense conversation. (We would wave our arms and point at each other, when in reality we were saying "Blah, blah, blah.")

There were some of my dancing partners that I really enjoyed. David -- fellow UNT student, handsome, nice guy, amazing dancer -- and I had met at a chiropractor's office (of all places) several months ago. We recognized each other and chatted for a while before hitting the dance floor. He knew what he was doing (due to ten years experience) and that made all the difference. David was definitely my favorite dancing partner for the night.

The other four guys were okay, I guess, but not interesting enough to write about. They would just come up and say, "Hi, I'm Kyle," or "Hi, I'm Clint... may I have this dance?" with a bashful smile. To which my reply was, "Yeah, sure... I'm Carey."

Jules, Rochenda, and I left around 11 pm. The dancing didn't end until midnight, but I started feeling bummed, so Jules decided a change of scenery would be good for me. We walked around the old UNT neighborhood and then headed toward town square, where the trees were lit around the old courthouse (it's the most fun place to go at night).

Count on Jules for crazy diversions -- we took off our shoes and ran through the sprinklers... in a public place in the middle of the night. It sounds rather insane for a college sophomore to be running through sprinklers in a public place in the middle of the night, but it was very freeing for me. I like doing things that are seemingly out of character for me.

Finally got home a little after midnight (to the relief of Mom and Jer, who called me every hour or so to track my whereabouts). I was gone that day a total of 16.5 hours.