Follow-up to the Sock-Hop

bybrenlee

195 followers

5 years ago

When we arrived, ['we', being the woman who picked me up] there was hardly any parking space available. To which my internal warning signal began to start flashing. Not that we were not going to get a parking space, but rather at the realization that all those cars was good indication that there were a lot of people at this dance.

As we ascended the stairs, the loud music told us we were in the right place. Small groups of women were on the dance floor dancing together in a circle. Since 75% of the attendees were women it was kind of relief, to me, knowing that if my friend and I got up to dance that we would blend in nicely with the rest of the dancers.

The theme for the dance was the era of the 50s and 60s, however, very few of the attendees were dressed in clothing from that time period. Once again, I was relieved since I did not have anything in my closet that resembled that time period. As my friend and I came to acknowledge this dance had more of 'Happy St. Patrick's Day' to it. Making for a rather interesting combination: St. Pat's paraphernalia on the tables and rock and roll music streaming from the speakers.

Oh, I just remembered to add-in, that my speculation, out in the parking lot, was true; there were a lot of people inside. This dance was taking place in a small community, to which I did not belong but my driver/friend did. Consequently, knowing a number of the people there she flitted around tell her hellos. It appeared that many of the attendees also knew each other. With that being said my friend was dancing a fair amount with those people while I was viewing as being a part of an audience.

At times, I was feeling a little resentful, in terms of why did she ask me to come when it was obvious that she was quite comfortable with the situation. As a young teenager if I had had the chance to even go to a dance it was the same thing, all the time, I would entertain the proverbial flowers on the wall instead of facing the shame of not being asked to dance. And here it was occurring again some 40 years later. At this time there were no 'flowers on the walls'.

I had to fight with myself to not allow myself to start going down into the rabbit-hole of shame. So, I started focusing on different 'themes' that appeared, to me, in the room and among the attendees. Things like the styles and fluidity of people dancing together either as a couple or in a circle. The difference in ages that were there. I saw a few teenagers to whom I was wondering why were they at this event were 90% of the people attending were over 65 years old? In turned out that the dance was raising funds for the 'None Bullying Campaign' for the local high school.

So, in conclusion, did I enjoy myself? Over-all I didn't care for the recalling of teenage-hood memories of being rejected at a dance because they were rearing their ugly heads. Yet, on the other hand, I enjoyed that I was able to bring up my 'people observation skills' and practice using them, in that situation. Finally, my greatest joy was the fact that I was not panicking and subsequently did not ask my friend if we could leave early. In fact, she was the one that asked if we could leave. Will I do it again? I think so!