weekend update

I would like to dedicate this post to dad, for his unwavering patience and love of the person I am. you said you had fun yesterday and I hope that's true. we will go again, and we will rock, and I will drink ahead of time so I'm easier to lead. I love you. happy father's day.

four years ago, I gave my boyfriend salsa dance lessons for Christmas.

this year for father's day, I finally came through. the only glitch was the salsa class was moved so we had to do swing. actually, no glitch, dad just wants to dance.

so there we were yesterday, ready to dance, after 5 hours of sleep, and no lunch, having forgotten to eat before the 4 hour workshop because of frantically getting the girls ready for the sitter. whew. and dance we did.

at first, dad embarrassed me, which he is very good at doing in any venue with music playing. next, we danced. and this is a problem because he is supposed to be dancing and I'm supposed to be following.

I'm a very controlling person. yes, I'll admit it. I like things done my way. and when it comes to dancing, I have a really hard time letting go. this was okay at first. we were learning the basics and it was good for me to focus on what we were doing. however, I started to notice my sweet husband's frustration with me around the start of hour two. unfortunately for him we were in a public place so he couldn't just yell at me to stop it. I tried to tell him I knew I was not doing a good job at following, that I was trying, that I would stop.

but I couldn't. I don't know why. I don't know if it just was the control freak in me or something more sinister hiding deep enough to remain unnoticed. I tried to tell him everything he was doing wrong, how to fix it, and damn it -- I couldn't just RELAX and have fun.

and here's where I see my perfectionist side collide with the control freak. how did dad ever come to be able to live with me anyway? I had to do it perfectly. we had to do it perfectly. forget that neither of us had ever been swing dancing, or had any sort of dance lesson. that doesn't matter. if I'm going to do something, I do it right. and get really frustrated and upset if it doesn't happen right away.

I guess I thought 4 hours was enough time to become a professional swing dancer. that we are that awesome. that "workshop" means completely proficient and ready for Dancing With The Stars or some shit.

but alas. we are just so-so. but that is what is expected after one lesson. and I'm okay with that. now.

towards the end, I was finally able to relax and let dad lead. and it turns out we are pretty good. too bad this only lasted a little bit since our exhaustion and low blood sugar caught up with us around the same time. we stumbled, we laughed, and we left on a good note with plans to go again.