Monday - June 21

Hello and good morning and a very happy Monday to you all, dear readers!

You’ll never guess what I did Saturday. Go ahead, guess.

Nope…try again.

Uh-uh, one more try?

Sorry. I’ll tell you.

I went DANCING!

Yes, I know!!! How very un-like me. I’ll tell you how it came about.

My friend Mark (a.k.a. Rhino, a.k.a. The Mayor of Waterford a.k.a. Big Mark) sent me a text a few days prior to the event asking if I had plans for Saturday. Me being me had none of course, and I told him as much. He then went on to inform me that his neighbor (we’ll call her J) was sans partner for the evening.* I agreed to attend.

Saturday came and off we went to the VFW Hall. The group of us was the youngest bunch there, which REALLY says something as we’re not exactly fresh off the fruit truck ourselves. Apart from the way everyone was dressed (did I mention that Mark called me as I was getting ready to leave and mentioned “No jeans, no gym-shoes” (that’s sneakers to you lot) ?) it was straight out of the ‘50s if you ask me.

The evening began with a brief mambo lesson and then moved on to a pre-programmed series of tunes that cycled through the various dances: tango, cha-cha, fox trot, etc. I was dead lousy at ‘em all, but gamely went ahead and did my level best.

Also, the VFW Hall had a room next door to ours that held a 60 foot long bar serving the cheapest drinks found anywhere I know. A round of adult beverages for six was a mere $17! Contrast that with a typical Chicago watering hole where the same order would be in the neighborhood of $60.

* Mark and his wife, along with their other neighbors Mark (as if that’s not confusing) and HIS wife have been taking ballroom/latin dance lessons. Their mutual neighbor and friend J has become the alternate in the event one of the ladies (or, in fact one of the gentlemen) cannot make it to the week’s lesson. Once a month, they have what I’ll call a dance social where the couples can dance the night away using the steps taught over the course of the course.