Throwin' down

Gotta get this down before I go to bed. I was at my niece's wedding today. It was outdoors at a local historic park. There was a small reception and dance afterwards on a very small portable dance floor laid in the grass. We had the g-kids and my family was there. It was a lot of fun, very cozy and comfortable. Dress code was jeans for heaven's sake!

The entertainment was a couple that sang to canned music. They were actually very good and knew lots of different styles and songs, but heavy on the country. The last dance was one to a song that I didn't know (listening to public radio all day will do that to you) but she insisted on teaching us the moves.

As a little background, I like to dance but am horrific at specific moves. I am incapable of the macarena, and can only clumsily move through the chicken dance. I cannot even manage YMCA (except for the Y). My sister has tried for 15 years to teach me the electric slide. I have yet to master it. Cotton-eyed Joe? Too stupid.

Okay, so the singer insisted this dance was easy and we could all do it. Oddly enough, it was! It only had four different steps, all counted out to four. By half way through, I was managing to keep on track. I almost looked competent! (Providing you forgot about the rest of my efforts today.)

While I was dancing, I noticed a guy sitting across the field on the bench. Now this was a song, sung by a black man, that had (possibly) a hip-hop beat to it. I'm not sure on that because, you know, public radio. As I was dancing, I thought to myself, "That guy must be really laughing at this family of white folks trying to be cool, dancing to a song they clearly have never heard in a dance they are incapable of doing." I kept dancing anyway, and just felt sorry for the guy having to put up with the spectacle.

The festivities ended shortly afterwards, and we all began working on cleaning up, taking down decorations, stacking tables, etc. I'm working with a grandkid on my hip, when the same guy that was watching from across the field walks up to me. He had a big smile on his face and said, "I just had to come up and give you a big high five!" I smiled and high-fived him, not knowing what he was high-fiving about, and he said he had been watching the dancing and "Girl, you can throw down!" I laughed and thanked him, hoping that throwing down was good.

Public radio you know.