Dance! Dance!

Obviously, this is the goal!

Could they set the bar any higher? Well, the good news is that goal setting is something I've always succeeded in. But this, well, it may have me second guessing my own personal will and strength. Oh, but I will try. I will try.

Can you imagine waking up one day and turning on the television to see yourself on camera, on stage, sitting in front of a studio audience who really isn't interested in a single word coming out of your mouth because they're so memorized by the two-legged dog you have on the program next to you, or rather at your feet. What YOU (or in this case, me) noticed when you saw the specticle on the set was NOT the dog, but the 200 pounds being lugged and dragged around as if it's normal, healthy, or even acceptable - it may be to someone else, but it most certainly was not to me. If I hadn't believed in depression and its effects before, I certainly knew what it could do to me personally - I had video proof!

Immediately I set out to lessen my weight, and found that diet and typical exercise was NOT, repeat, NOT working. My doctor suggested that I try dancing - belly dancing. (What was he getting at? LOL) So, (and let me say this with the upmost of ignorance) I went to the store to buy a book on the subject. I'm a writer, I'm a reader....books help in these situations. I got a book! After really studying the moves, the angles, the sharp contrast to the life I was living - I decided to buy a CD of erotic, exotic mood tones - something really liquid - Chris Spheeris! Oh, the man is hot! But that's so not the point.

With Chris' help, and the practice of sway, swing, swish, and lowering myself through both hypnotic and often chaotic experiments - I am now NOT, repeat NOT, any good at belly dancing. However, I am nearly 45 pounds lighter, and I have stopped scaring the dogs under the bed. They'll lay on top of it now and actually watch me dance. Success can be measured in so many ways. Dogs and kids. Dogs and kids. They are perhaps the most honest creatures of God's Earth. My dogs, because they're really genteel, kind, loving and very dependent on my graciousness - have said very little about what they think of my moving about - the kids have not been so kind. They don't really depend on me that much anymore - not since they discovered where I hide my credit cards and car keys. At least they laugh when the music is loud enough to cover their amusements.

Dance! Dance! Don't let the slightest of fears stop or distract you. DANCE! If you're like me, and you need a reason to move - motivate yourself with a 30-second staring session into the face and eyes of Chris Spheeris - get a picture!!!! MOVE....maybe someday I'll reach my goal, and maybe someday I'll win the lottery, and maybe someday the crew of Law & Order will want to shoot that scene with Jesse Martin and my dog for ratings! If nothing else - I can dream.