Gotta Dance!

My mother put me in dance class before I was 4. Tap and ballet and I took to it like a fish takes to water. As I got older, I joined a competitive line and expanded into jazz, production and novelty routines. At its height, we were traveling to compete and our weekend long recital included up to 9 routines in 5 performances. My mom recently gave me the videos of those performances and I don't know how she sat through those 3+ hour recitals. Talk about dreadful! I mean, it is one thing to watch your own kid dance but to watch relative strangers? She definitely deserves some type of medal of honor for that!

In my mid-teens I dropped out of dance. Decided I'd rather focus on high school and ended up being a cheerleader for a year. Got kicked off because I didn't like having my back to the game but that is a story for another blog...

I've always loved any type of live theater so was psyched when my Theater Club went to see Billy Elliott last week at the Kennedy Center. And as we walked out, I knew it was time to pick up my tap shoes again. Imagine my delight the next day when I went to tea for my grandmother's birthday to find out that one of my "aunts" taps! So I'm going to start looking for lessons and one of my girlfriends said she would join me. Because watching tap dancing on stage made me happy so I imagine dancing myself will make me even happier! But don't alert Broadway yet!

Better Late Than Never

When I was little, I loved to dance. My mom often jokes that I was dancing as soon as I was walking. She started me with tap and ballet when I was 4 and I continued to dance over the next 11 years. My line competed all over the mid-Atlantic region and I was in 10+ routines during our ridiculous 5 show recitals at the end of the year. How did my mother ever sit through all that? (and yes, there are videos, and no, you can't see them.)

As I mentioned before, my dad loves to golf. When I was little I thought I would like to golf with him. So one year, after my Linda Natoli Dance Recital, when all of the other dads showed up with flowers, my dad showed up with something I had been coveting. A pink and grey golf bag. He bought it for his dancing daughter who wasn't yet ready to commit to golf. But he bought it as a hope, a wish, a support and a dream.

Fast forward to yesterday, 20+ years later. My dad and I had the best day. I hadn't picked up a club in 2 years, but I did OK. And today, he gave me a gift like he had all of those years ago, he emailed to tell me he was researching golf instructors and would treat me to two lessons.

Why after all of this complaining do I still want to golf? Three reasons. One, I think I could be pretty good if I practiced. Two, I like the challenge the game poses for me. Three, it means lots of time I can spend with my dad doing what he loves. That is the ultimate reason golf is on my bucket list - I can share it with my dad. It is the gift he has given me - even if it has taken 20+ years to realize it.