I’ve been a little behind on posting the last few days. In addition to all the end-of-the-school-year craziness, I’ve been busy wearing hot pink leggings and tap dancing to “Footloose” with the other mamas for the Stella Dance Recital. I made it through Tuesday night and thought, “Whew! Thank goodness that’s over!” only to be told we’re doing it again tonight. Say what?!?

The good news is that my grandma will be in the audience tonight so she’ll get to see it. The bad news is that after our first performance, I now know that my mind goes completely blank when I get up there under the bright lights. I’m not kidding. But I’ve always wanted the chance to dance, so I need to keep going with the hope that it gets easier the more you do it. Lexie is so relaxed onstage and keeps a smile plastered on her face the whole time. I don’t know how she does it.

The photo was taken after our dance Tuesday night. From the left, it’s Nicole, me, Angie, Kathy, and Shannon H. I still look a little shell-shocked. But as Eleanor Roosevelt and Mug of Wisdom #20 say, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” This definitely counts. In fact, I’d say it counts for a whole week’s worth of scary. (Angie used Picnik to make this wonderful photo. What a treasure to hang on my board and look at every day.)

But we must have done all right because I’ve had a bunch of women come up to me and say they want to do this, too. And three husbands told me they want their wives to sign up because they think they’d love it. I say go for it, people. If I can do it, anyone can do it. And as the song says, “When you have the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.”

My goal tonight is to relax into the moment and enjoy myself. I’m going to be 43 on Saturday and, honestly, I’m proud of myself for doing something so challenging at this stage in my life. And if it hadn’t been for dancing, I never would have known my hair could be so curly. How about you? Have you pushed yourself to try something new? Have you learned something about yourself in the process?