February 11: Dance Solo

My daughter's Thursday evening dance classes have quickly become a regular routine for us, as she prepares for he first ever dance recital in June. I have to admit that some Thursdays, after working all day, it's difficult to muster up the energy to take her all the way over to the studio and sit there for an hour waiting; especially since her class starts so late. But, as parents we go the extra mile for our kids and, since she is so passionate about this dance thing, it's really not much of a sacrifice, on the part of my wife and I, when you put things into perspective; now my son might have a different outlook on that since he's required to stay occupied the entire hour. I'll get his take next week. On this Thursday night, I decided to be the thoughtful I guy I am, and give my wife and son a 1-week reprieve. I did so because my wife has been sick for a few days and my son seemed to be starting to come down with a similar ailment. I received no complaints from my son, but afterwards my wife ended up giving me some grief because the dance teacher allowed the parents to watch the last 5 minutes of class. How was I supposed to know, right? Unfortunately, this evening at the dance studio did not start very well. First, I really wanted to make a pit stop at Starbucks on the way, as I needed a little caffeine boost to make it through the hour. However, we left a bit late so I had to settle for a French Vanilla coffee out of a machine from 7-Eleven. Not quite the same thing, to which you coffee drinkers can probably attest. Although some people seem to have a different opinion on that. Next, upon arriving at the studio, because we were later than usual, all of the lobby tables but one were already occupied. The one that was still vacant happened to reside directly in front of the room in which there are back-to-back aerobics classes on Thursday nights. Needles to say, this was quite uncomfortable as I felt like the 30 women who take those classes were thinking I parked myself there to watch them work out; which was really not factual at all. So, given that I had forgotten the work I planned on doing while I waited but forgot in a rush to leave the house, I spent the next hour flipping through an old "Parents" magazine, staring at the walls and scribbling on a scrap of paper to prove that my interest in selecting this spot was purely due to limited seating options. I can confirm that this was the first and last time I want to do the dance thing solo, as I, obviously, missed the company of my wife, but I also found I missed the restless antics of my son...his begging, whining and boredom included.