by Rebecca on 2008-06-01
Our ward had a chili cookoff on Friday night. I was really looking forward to going and meeting some new people and trying some chili and cornbread. We even made some cornbread (the recipe is not worth it, so if youʼre looking for a sweet cornbread online, donʼt use this one) and a chocolate pie. Mmmm.
And they had square dancing. The callers started out easy with the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey. William and I were out there, supporting the cause, and I realized that we were the only ones out there who werenʼt trying to get our kids excited about doing the hokey pokey. I donʼt know if that makes us extra cool or extra geeky. Anyway, the callers announced that the square dancing would start. Since we were already out there, William said that we should just stay and give it a go. I donʼt really like dancing in general, but square dancing is especially tricky because you have to listen to the callers, and itʼs impossible for me to hear the callers and move my feet in the direction that they want me to go. But we stayed out there long enough to bow to the partners, bow to the corners, and get the hang of the do si do.
And then the music started and things started going faster, and William was passing me to someone, and my heel on my right shoe somehow snagged my left cuff of my sweet wide legged but slightly too long denim trousers, and before I knew it, I was flat on the ground. It was a classic fall, one of those where you realize that youʼre falling, and somehow time slows down, and you feel like youʼre flailing around helplessly but in slow motion. And the best part about it is that William didnʼt even realize that I had fallen until he heard a “BOOM!” and turned around and saw me lying on the floor. I managed to pick myself up gracefully enough, excused myself to a chair to take off my shoes, and returned to the dance floor to finish the square dance. But that was it for us, since I did manage to slightly twist my ankle in the fall. And I wiped out in front of my entire ward, and thereʼs no consolation in the thought that maybe no one saw because (a) everyone saw, and (b) those who didnʼt see at first heard the “BOOM!” and turned and saw.
My family doesnʼt have an injury-free dancing record. One of my aunts broke her arm dancing at a dance hall after slipping on a puddle where someone had spilled their drink on the floor. My sister-in-law twisted her ankle and went to the emergency room after an especially exciting move at a swing dance (and she still married my brother)! And my sister once totally ate it at a stake youth dance in front of this cute guy, who said, “Hey, looks like you fell hard for me.” So, I guess I had it coming to me.