June and Jonathan’s Birthday

June went a little bit like this: Spanish homework, Spanish class, Ceorc, Ceroc, Ceroc, Ceroc interspersed with work, then repeat.

Having entered the competition with my team and in the process cavalierly ticking a few other event boxes I found myself ticking a few more after convincing/agreeing to dance with a more experienced friend in some partner events. I ended up being registered for seven events in all and as I previously alluded in the last post the team one was turning out to be the most challenging. If I made a mistake there was no covering it up with a different move it was a case of remember where the next best place to pick up the routine was and wait. It turns out I am terrible at that. I just hoped like hell my partner knew what he was doing, which fortunately he did. I cannot stress enough how much this poor guy put up with and how much he kept me right. As well as all that he was a pleasure to dance with both in the routine and during our freestyle breaks. The others in the routine were pretty amazing too. Everyone turned up to our extra Sunday practice and a few weeks before the event we had a last minute couple join us and learn the routine in half the time we had. It was the most amazing experience and I am so glad I decided to give it a go.

Our routine moves written up for one of our many practices :D

Unfortunately my freestyle partner and I were less dedicated and seemed to have the most conflicting schedules but decided we’d just wing it on the day as we were in it for the fun of it. Still as the competition came closer I found myself constantly monitoring my dancing and in the week or two running up to it I did find I had less joy and more stress though I the joy did win out most nights. As I've said before it’s hard not to be happy when people keep spinning you round and round and round AND round.

Life wasn’t all ceroc. I have long wished to see one of Terry Pratchett’s discworld books acted out as a play. So when I saw a poster for Carpe Jugulum I knew I had to go. A couple of friends came with me and they just about managed to follow the story. Knowing the books so well for me it was easy and I thought they adapted it very well. I am delighted that I went and was grateful for the excellent company. It was a lovely night off followed the next day by more ceroc..... I said it didn’t completely take over my life, just mostly....

June was indeed a busy month full of dancing but it is also the birthday of my Jonathan. I was thankful to be off on the day and a good friend met me for a steak lunch where I had a very weak JD and coke for my man, well it was lunch time! In the evening I went dancing and it was a good night but bittersweet as I couldn’t help but remember some crazy salsa dances many years ago. Now there was a boy who could never enter a competition. Rules?! He’d never have learnt them, or if he did it would only be so he could break them. So it was a good night if a little bit sad but I am glad I went. It was a fitting way to remember a man who loved life and loved to dance.

If you know me you know that’s not the end of the story though. As is often the case I found the days after his birthday to be the hardest. By the Sunday it all caught up with me and I’m afraid the weekend before our competition I was not in the best frame of mind for our routine practice. I’m me though so I went and I tried my best and my team were brilliant. They were kind and understanding yet let me know where I needed improvement then let me be when they saw I had reached my limit. All of this despite the fact hey didn't actually know what was wrong just that something was. Then I went home and I let our all the pain and sadness and frustration and then I slept. When I woke up I went to work and I was tired, so tired but in the way you are when you know you’ve come though something big. I knew the worst was over and that night I finally got a decent nights sleep and life, of course, went on.

So the latest personal storm had passed and I was starting to feel like my old self and it was time to start enjoying myself again. I had been given two days leave for the competition so was working Monday, Thursday and the Sunday. As much as I needed the money when I learned that one of the girls was looking for extra shifts I gladly offered her my Thursday and was happy when she took it. I had five days to myself and I planned to use them well.  Tuesday and Wednesday were spent packing and Thursday, well Thursday I worked on my blog. And the competition got ever closer.....