Square Dancing

From time to time, something jumps up and jogs my dusty old memory trap and jiggles a little something loose. Today, being a room mom has done just that. Another mom and I are discussing ideas for the Green Room's Harvest Party. The Green Room is the before and after school care room and Ms. Tori is the teacher, Ms. Whittney the assistant. The mom of Teagan's best buddy, Kyle (who also used to be cared for by Miss Lisa- our daycare provider), is the other room mom. We already know each other so working together will hopefully be pretty easy. Today, an e-mail came out asking Room Parents to start thinking up ideas for the Harvest Party for their assigned room. as I was Googling and Binging and taking notes, an idea popped into my head. I have no idea if we will do it or not- but I hope we do because I think it would be a hoot- is square dancing. Keep it really basic, play a little square dance music, partner off the kids, teach them to do-si-do and promenade. And as I started thinking about it... I suddenly remembered that my mom used to square dance! When she and my dad were dating, I remember them square dancing. My mom must have been pretty into it because I know she had special shoes and a petticoat (I loved that big fluffy thing) and a special dress (I think it was blue). I remember going to some of these square dances with my mom and her then-boyfriend. It's funny... I don't remember a lot of details about it. And I'm betting my mom will read this and help crack up this memory vault. But it's one of those things that I had completely forgotten about. And it feels like it's almost part of my heritage, you know? That petticoat used to sit on this little table like thing in my mom's closet (we had really good sized closets in our apartment). It was great for being a princess, as a ginormous wedding veil or dress, and made a great cover over a hide and seek spot in that closet. And I have to wonder if my mom's involvement in square dancing didn't end up sparking my interest in show choir? Square dancing shoes aren't much different from character shoes. I dabbled in theatre in high school, more involved in college, show choir helped incorporate that love of music and movement, and then all of that community theatre when I moved to Indy. It had to come from somewhere. Here's something else really important that I remember about my mom square dancing. Her face. Her smile. She would put on make up when she went square dancing. Her face would beam- that smile would take over her body. She had fun. She let loose. At least that's how I remember it...