Knowing When to Lead and When to Follow
I'm still alive and well. I've had a little more time to look back on my life the past few years. From the beginning, I've found a pattern in my life and it seems to be all about dancing. Dancing makes me feel better in body, mind and spirit.
I started dancing with my friend and my sister in our basement when I was very young. Then my grandmother took me to a tap dance class all of one summer. In eighth grade, I had a dance teacher that had danced with Fred Astaire and she taught us a step routine that was unequaled. Then in high school, my boyfriend and I would spend hours practicing our dance routines in his basement. We took those routines and danced out in public together: the robot, the hustle, etc. The summer before I went to college, I worked training as a dance instructor for Arthur Murray studio. We would practice our dances at the discos with our instructor: the NY Swing, the Salsa, etc. College was less about dancing for me since it was hard work, but I did attend a few dances there: a Sadie Hawkins and a Prom.
My mom and grandmother had taken us to Mexico, the Caribbean and Costa Rica since I was twelve, and we always danced there: at the hotels, the discos, etc. with the local boys. While working at my first job for a corporation, after college, I was dancing with a colleague at a sales meeting. He said I was the best dancer he had ever danced with because I could follow. I was so surprised because he was Italian and I knew he had danced a lot. I am a woman and an Aries; this is a tough combination for me. I am naturally a leader, bossy & avant garde. As the years have gone by, I've realized the importance of my colleagues' comment. Life is very much like dancing; sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow. Like in dancing, in life the wisdom and maturity in knowing when to do either is the most important thing. Since my early corporate days, I've danced in every state from NYC to California. I've even danced in Spain and Morocco. In high school I danced in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Now I think I am her.