There you are. Lined up against that giant pad that hung on the wall underneath the basketball hoop. The lights are dimmed, streamers are crookedly twisted wherever the decorators could find places for them, balloons bob around the floor, and the smell of last hour PE still lingers in the air. You're standing there with a group of your friends, look up and see Him. (Or Her, as the case may be.) Panic starts to set in. This is it. Your first slow dance.
Dumbstruck, you make your way out to the middle of the gym and join the ranks of equally uncomfortable couples. Your arms are stuck straight ahead and locked at the elbows, you are rocking back and forth from foot to foot to something that might quite possibly resemble the beat, and staring anywhere but in your partner's face. Your mind races for something to say. You wish you were anywhere but here, yet pray that the song never ends.
When the song is finally over, you give your partner a nervous laugh ("Heh heh!"), say thanks ("Thanks... see you around!"), and race back to your friends.
Phew. You survived. Your first dance.
What was the first song you ever slow danced to, and who was it with?
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Glory of Love
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"Islands in the Stream." I was 9 years old and I have no clue what my partner's name was. I was at my cousin's wedding, and everyone thought it would be cute to make the kids dance with each other. It was awful.
After that, I honestly can't remember who the first "real" slow dance was with. I can remember "Lady in Red" with Steve, "Crazy for You" with Brad and "Carrie" with Matt. I think there were probably some others in there, too, but I can't remember. (And now I will pause to convey my heartfelt apologies if somehow you stumble across this blog.) But the first one that truly made me all a-flutter was in 8th grade -- "Could've Been" with Joe. Really, can you get any better than Tiffany for this question?
Hmmmm...my first slow dance? Don't remember; it would have been in 7th grade. The one thing I know for sure: the last dance of the night would have been "Stairway to Heaven". Always was! And it took so long, and then it speeds up at the end...and you are not sure you should still be slow dancing anymore. I think I have probably just blocked all middle school dances out of my mind. So much awkward uncomfortableness! Bleck! Wouldn't go back to those days for any money!
Swing your partner 'round and 'round. Yep, that's right. I do-si-doed for my first dance, complete in primitive garb for our annual Pioneer Day celebration in 4th grade. What girl doesn't dream of square dancing in a hoop skirt for her first big spin around the floor?
Fast forward to middle school (awkward stage in full effect) for my next try at the dancing thing. The cafeteria had never looked better... and you could almost not smell the garlic bread from that day's spaghetti lunch if you really tried hard enough. I hadn't ever been much of a dancer, mainly b/c no one ever asked. I was the quintessential wallflower, sulking with my friends and making fun of the "couples" there, who I secretly envied more and more with every twirl they made to KCi and JoJo.
Then it happened. My first dance! With... Andy Marks? What? The boy that I couldn't have been less interested in but had liked me since elementary school was suddenly in front of me, dangling an invitation I was no longer so sure I wanted. People were going to see me dancing. With Andy. The boy that, as captain of every sports team imaginable, should have been the coolest guy in school but was instead the one all the girls hated. Not really the debut I wanted to make. There was no leading me to the dance floor. We danced right there, close to my beloved wall that had never seemed farther away. I don't even remember the song... I was too mortified that he was actually touching me to even hear the music around me.
Sigh... what a memory. How 'bout my best dance instead?? Definitely not my first, that's for sure. Although the two usually don't go hand in hand for anyone who isn't living life as Molly Ringwald in an 80s teen drama.
I don't remember the song, but I remember that it was with a girl named Emily. It was seventh grade, and I had a *huge* crush on her. Alas, she had absolutely no interest in me and she made that point clear all through the dance. I have never seen anyone more relieved than she was after the song was over.
Of course, I wasn't about to let that hinder my chances, so the next night I called up the local radio station and dedicated the song to her on the radio. My dedication was even from "Andy T.", in case she wouldn't have been *sure* it was me if she only heard "Andy". Quite the classy move, if I say so myself...
I like to think that it was just that she didn't hear the radio dedication that she never gave me the time of day. Yeah, that's gotta be what it was. If she had heard it, I'm *sure* she would've fallen for me that instant...
This is so sad b/c I don't even remember my first slow dance. I'm sure it was with some guy that I thouhgt I'd be with for the rest of my life and that I was madly in love with at the time. It must have been a great dance since I can't even remember it. lol.
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