Enamored.

I think that’s how I feel.

Upon my 50th birthday, I set a few goals.

Go on 50 hikes; easy.

Attend 50 dance classes; not so easy. I’ve taken a few dance classes over the years, have loved me some samba & Zumba, and felt that dance would help me to get into my body & have more joy. I set the goal but didn’t know how I’d reach it in our tiny town.

For starters, I found an African Dance class. I’ve now been to 12 of these classes! There are live drummers and big movements and freedom and fun.

In the same week I found a ballroom series and drug my spouse. The first month was Rhumba. It was fun and I appreciated his willingness. But then the next month was Salsa, & I fell in love. Then, we discovered there was Salsa Rueda (salsa in a circle) in town that I had tried a couple of times when I lived in California.

When I stop and think about it, I have a lot of routines. I hang out with the same people, do the same things for exercise, do the same thing in the evenings. And this Salsa Rueda group has now changed everything.

Picture this: My daughter and I now go out on Friday nights together and stay out until 10:30pm; it’s lessons for the first part, and social dancing for the second half. I’m typically religiously in bed by 9pm, and she and I don’t usually party together, but with this, I am out until 10:30! We are with people who are in neither of our circles, and are neither of our ages. There are people who have been dancing salsa as long as they’ve been able to walk, and others who are just learning, like us. Men and women dance together, women and women, men and men. And it is all just for the love of dancing; there is nothing creepy. When finishing with a partner, we high-five and say thanks and walk away and find someone new.

We dance with 20 different people each night, all up close and personal. We hold hands and hug and spin with these people, and we don’t even know their last names. We don’t know their jobs. There is so little we know, but we understand their personalities from how they move while dancing together. All of the context is missing, which is so new, and so freeing. There is no alcohol, even though it’s a weekend night; it’s just a roomful of people who love to dance.

So the word is “enamored.” By the people, the experience, and the joy. I’ve now been to 10 Salsa Rueda classes & they even invade my dreams. Here’s to all of us being curious and enamored.

With gratitude – Julie