boundless joy

Stitches out… was putting some weight on my foot last night w/ crutches. Walked around the house today w/out crutches for the most part.

My dancing friends asked me to come visit the Friday night Swing dance party that I normally teach and host (a friend is filling in while I’m recovering). Tonight we celebrated birthdays – there are a few of us with birthdays in November.

I didn’t take my dance shoes. I had no intention of dancing. I had every intention of wistfully watching other dancers and attempting not to cry out of envy.

I watched the class, and that went pretty well. I had a book to distract me for the most part.

But then the social dancing started.

And I… I was lost.

I asked my dancing partner (the guy I teach with) to dance a little with me… nothing big, just sort of rocking back and forth slightly to see what would happen. And that went really well. I almost didn’t dare to hope. Then we tried some East Coast Swing, and THAT worked. From there it was only a matter of time before I was taping the bottom of my tennis shoes with duct tape to make them slippier for dancing… and then came the Lindy Hop.

Then I did cry. Because I was dancing. I was dancing. I hadn’t expected to be able to dance until at least two weeks from now. And it wasn’t hurting!! Granted, it felt really strange. I can’t go up on the ball of my foot yet, so I had to dance flat-footed on my left, but that was pretty easy to manage.

I cannot explain the overwhelming joy of being on that dance floor. It wasn’t until I was out there that I realized how scared I had been that I’d never be able to dance again. Not rational, I know. But the fear had been there, and now it was lifted from me and I was flying!!!!

I even did some Balboa!!

I danced all night (3 hours). I didn’t pack in as many dances as I otherwise would have, but still I got a good workout.

So now I am elevating, icing, and ibuprofen-ing. Tomorrow morning I shall soak in a hot bath. I’m not in pain, but I assume that I might be in the morning. So I’m taking all possible steps to ensure that doesn’t happen.

To quote a family saying, I’m happier than a pig in snot. Hahahahah.