random thoughts – Day 1,420 – (Monday) – adventure class

A few weeks ago, I saw information about a class I was interested in that was taking place on a night where I could actually attend all the sessions. For bunch of years now, I have forgone several classes I wanted to attend due a monthly commitment that takes place on a Tuesday night. I couldn’t see paying for a program where I would miss one out of every four classes. I don’t have the space for that kind of stress and financial frivolity.

Omelet for supper.

The email was sent and information was received about the location. After a quick supper of a mushroom, onion, and cheese omelet, on the designated day (today) at the appointed time (6:00), I was outside Pawtucketville Congregational Church waiting to be let in for a new adventure. 

There were a few us gathered, verifying the doors were indeed locked and that we weren’t standing in the cold for no good reason. I had checked the door that was up a flight of stone stairs. On the way down, I was allowing my feet to move independently of my eyes and not watching my feet or the steps. The details are fuzzy, but it suddenly felt like I stepped off a ledge and crash landed hard on a knee on the stone landing. In front of five or six people I had not met before.

Oops. Talk about making a graceful and memorable first impression. It seems I should have worried less about the sweater I was wearing while dressing and put on my roller derby knee pads instead.

Right after my accidental daredevil acrobatic stunt, one of the instructors arrived and let us all in to the building. As we got settled on a pew in the function hall for a couple minutes, one of the women who witnessed my moment of gracefulness asked if I was okay. The pantleg looked okay, but as I answered, “yeah, I’m good,” it was hiked up to expose my knee which turned out to be scuffed and bloody. Holy crap. At least my pants were okay, and a few minutes later, it was time for class to begin. The session is full, with about 25 of us in the class. For the next five weeks, we are going to learn salsa dancing. 

We began with counting one-two-three, five six seven (four and eight have pauses) and listening for the count in the music. It was hard to understand everything the instructor said as he explained salsa styles, but I think he said we were learning Puerto Rican style. He definitely said that we “start on the one” and that other styles start on the two.

In just under an hour, we worked on front step, back step, side step, basic step, right turn, and left turn. The left turn was the hardest. All of it was fun. I totally forgot about my bloodied knee.

A closer examination at home revealed that the left knee also got a bit of scuff. But it’s all good. No worries.

For those keeping score, Sunday evening, a jar of salsa kicked my ass. Monday evening, I kicked my own ass on my way to a salsa class. It seems that somehow salsa mishaps rule and I probably need to be a little more careful.