It’s January: Gray Prevails, Dancing Endures

I dread it when time change begins in Fall. It’s the official countdown to Seasonal Affected Disorder for me.

SAD is not so bad during the months of October, November and December as there are quite big distractions, e.g., son’s birthday, Halloween, even the annoying Thanksgiving and peaking at hubby’s birthday, Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

January…..I dread January as well as the coming February and March…..all before the next Spring Time Change. Nothing, not even major holidays, to divert attention to. Nada!

These are the times, when all over the horizon is GRAY, GRAY and GRAY. Moods are gray too. Bleak outlooks.

Moving to the Pacific Northwest has been such a wise decision, except we, er I, wasn’t prepared for its Winter, Spring and even the first part of Summer seasons, when RAIN, more RAIN, FOG, more FOG, and endless GRAY come into play. Snow, actually, makes things come alive, be it for a brief time. And the plunging temperature that comes with snow makes one wishes for RAIN. With rain means higher temperature.

For the first few years of working nights, winter had not bothered me to the point of tearing my hair out. It was on the 5th year. Totally drove me nuts! From then on, I had to find diversions fast. I found plenty alright. Mostly in the form of taking classes upon classes. All kinds of classes……top most of which would be Spanish immersion, cooking, martial arts and dancing classes (see next paragraph). Once, even joined a tour group for seniors even when I wasn’t of senior age. Had to beg to get in. The highlights were touring local popular stops and even extended tours that span more than 100-mile radius from home. And then there was the rowing club… the rowing practice was year-round… even in dead winter, when we dragged our frozen tooshies to practice.

Well, this year, here is one of choice dancing classes I’m considering:

English & Scottish Country Dancing  I’ve never been interested in line dancing before. Never liked country music, except for a few. But English, even Irish, dancing is totally new to me. They are not as popular as the other ballroom dancing of mambo, samba, salsa, swing, hustle, etc. But with ‘waltz music’, I can imagine being in England in ‘Victorian periods’, dancing and meeting marriage-potential rich lords and even a prince in grand Victorian ballrooms, like we see in the movies.

Little did I know English-Scottish dancing to be challenging, although I know Viennese waltzing steps. To say the least, I HAD FUN. It’s literally a sweat activity, meaning there’s a workout feature to it. 

Anyway, the Eugene group of the Heather and Rose Country Dancers has no website. I was told by one the organizers, Leslie, that the Eugene group is unique in that there’s a sense of community in the group. They prefer to include newbies and have no specific rules of pairing by gender, by skills, etc.

So, being a newbie, I was hesitant to come in last night to check out the group. I wanted to just observe the dance and make a decision from there. I did, however, call Leslie with inquiries. Last night was the first session of a 12-week program. So, when I appeared in the middle of a 2-hour session, all attention was on me. Everyone stopped dancing. I was on the spot as everyone wanted to know who I was. Oh, you don’t know HOW shy I am when it comes to being a center of attention to anything, especially when I do NOT know who these people are. AWKWARD MOMENT!

Then before I could even say I just wanted to observe the dancing, Leslie dragged me into the group and the lesson began, er, continued. The first few minutes were truly awkward for me… a total failure following everyone’s steps. The group didn’t mind. They insisted. They persisted. That was good. I stayed even after the class ended, socializing and meeting members. That meant the lesson and the people were enjoyable enough to endure that initial awkwardness.

Twelve weeks of English-Scottish country dancing here I come!

I decided to join the group. Yipeeeee-hay-hay!