the big 3 - 0

Turning 30 wasn't so traumatic for me as I think it might have been for my parents and my 3 older sisters. I know how they feel. All of us 4 girls were born in 7 years, so we spend a few years all being in our 20s, in our 30s and when my oldest sister turns 40, I will the feel the heavy THUD of being 33 and sucked that much closer to being 40. Aging by association. I am sure there is a pysch class on that somewhere.

So we decided that for my birthday we would go dancing. We used to really like to dance when we were in college. Dance at LDS young single adult dances that is. World of difference from dancing at a club or other location, as you might imagine and we found out last night.

We went to a great place on Capital Hill called Century Ballroom (small photos at left and below). They have a half hr lesson at 9pm and after that the pros come out of the woodwork and everyone dances and the floor is packed. So fun! Thursday night was Salsa night, and it was amazing to watch great Salsa dancers. Stephen and I are not great Salsa dancers. We can swing a little, and I prefer freestyle. There's a reason "Dancing Queen" is my favorite song and my nickname in college was Tara "jiggy" Hambelton. But who knows of a clean Disco place?See, this place is great- especially on Waltzing Sundays, shown here

The instructor had us partner up and everyone was in a circle. After a minute she told us to move to the left and switch partners. Uhhh, what? I didn't sign up to dance with a bunch of sweating, single guys, but dance I did. We traded partners about 10 times. When the lesson was over, the tall and (may I say) good looking guy I was currently practicing with asked me to dance. When he saw my deer in the headlight reaction and then frantic looks back at my husband he got the message and assured me if I had a partner, no big deal.

It turned out that at Century, everyone dances with everyone and it seems so much fun! Stephen and I noticed right away if we weren't actually touching, then someone was sure to hover nearby. There were a lot more guys than girls and it seemed like there were a lot of guys (some older, some younger) who were really good at Salsa and liked to give lessons to girls like me who obviously didn't have a clue. It was so refreshing to see a lot of people mingling and dancing. At young single adult dances, there is a lot less asking going on since an invitation to dance is practically a marriage proposal. There is some sort of commitment inferred by asking someone to dance at an LDS dance! It's crazy, but true. Seeing how I am nearly 6 feet tall and the commitment provisions and all, I rarely got asked by anyone other than friends.

When we had had our fill of trying to keep up with much better dancers around us, Stephen went upstairs to get my coat from the coat check. Sure enough, 30 seconds later I was on the dance floor with a Salsa pro even though I had been standing by the door, behind the velvet rope. It was great fun to dance with someone who really knew what they were doing (sorry honey). With Stephen and I and the Salsa, it's like the blind leading the blind, we're no help to each other. Maybe next time we will be more comfortable practicing with better dance partners. Getting asked to dance was a great way to end a birthday night- maybe enough of an ego boost to get me through the fact that I'm in my THIRTIES. ha