Lessons from the Spastic People.....

I decided tonight that there are lessons to be learned from the spastic people.

There is a guy in my line dance class who is positively spastic. Want me to see how many times I can say the word "spastic" in one blog post? Okay.

He has no sense of rhythm whatsoever. If there is a turn in the choreography, you can bet he's going to turn in the wrong direction. If there is a clap, his will come a full beat (or two) after everyone else in the room. If it's a rock step, he's doing a triple step. If it's a grapevine, he's doing a shuffle. The poor guy can't even stand in front of the mirror, because everything is backward. Dancing backward might actually be an improvement for him.

But he comes every week, and he enjoys himself immensely. He knows he's terrible, he makes fun of himself, but by golly he keeps trying. Every now and then he'll ask Tonya to repeat her instruction of a difficult step, and everyone in the room (except possibly him) knows he won't get it that time either.

He leaves his workout in the weight room to come to line dancing. At which he sucks. Terribly.

Watching him tonight, however, I realized I could take some lessons from him.

The spastic people have much more fun than the rest of us.

If I was terrible at line dancing, if I couldn't get the steps, if I had no sense of rhythm, if I knew I was terrible and I knew everyone in the room knew it, I wouldn't come anymore. I would find something at which I COULD succeed, and I would do that because it would make me feel good about myself. You don't see me out there trying to scuba dive in front of people, do you? No. Because I suck at it. I tried once, in a murky lake, sucked up a week's worth of oxygen, went back to the surface and drank a beer, never to scuba dive again.

I might be a happier person if I were spastic. I could have a good time and not care if I got the steps right. I could appreciate the camaraderie and the fellowship of my fellow dancers without worrying about timing my Lindy steps perfectly or making my turns finish in the right spot. I wouldn't be embarrassed when I miss a step or completely forget an entire sequence in the middle of a dance I've done a hundred times.

Here's to the spastic people. They know how to have a good time.