Dancing Fix

Weekend 3, 6/29: Friday made up for the long week! The TfA teachers at our school had a social of our own at Jax Grill. The restaurant is like a more spacious roadhouse kind of feel. They also have a wonderful outdoor patio to the side of the building. We teachers sat and relaxed for a full 2 hours. As the energy returned to our exhausted frames, the grill started to get busier. Then the zydeco band showed up. Zydeco is a New Orleans original style of music and dance. I had never seen it before, but the sweet strains drift over all the bayou. Some of us more adventuresome teachers got out there with the locals, but only to enjoy the music. We had no idea what we were doing. After most of our group had left, though, some of the locals took an interest in our dancing and asked us to try it with them. Imagine a 60-something cowboy from Louisiana with hat, pearl-snap shirt and boots included, dancing with a 20-something, stiff, blonde thing, one of three or so in the crowd. By the time we left, I actually heard one girl say, “White girl got soul!” Totally made my night.

Saturday, I was planning to work hard, get ahead for the week, and finish a video I was making for my family. I did get the video done and sent, which was a bit of an ordeal. (There’s no way to send something that big. L) Just as I finished that, a friend sent out a quick e-mail inviting people to go to the Johnson Space Center, the place to which the quote “Houston, we have a problem” is referring. Simply put, it was incredible. Much of the entrance hall is devoted to children and families. It has games and interactive learning centers and a maze, complete with ball pit. The rest of the center is across the street. They offer tours of the astronaut training facility, operations center and the Saturn V—the rocket which landed on the moon. My camera almost overheated with all the activity.

For dinner, we decided to try a Mexican restaurant down the street. For TexMex, it was really good. Fortunately for my social nature, some of them mentioned making a visit to Wild West later that night, and they didn’t mind my tagging along! Ohh, I have missed country dancing. I did have to teach a bunch of these New Englanders how to two-step, though. I also got asked to dance by some cowboys, one of whom we could have sworn was Willie Nelson.

Sunday was a bit rough, I admit. At home, my father was celebrating 20 years as the pastor of the same church. They are throwing him a party. How I wish I could be there. In my place, I did get to send a video-message, with which they surprised my dad at the commemorative dinner. Neither he nor I can talk about it without Kleenex around