Holiday Ball

My residents had invited me to attend MySchool's Christmas Ball with them, and even though I'm very self-conscious and NOT a dancer, I agreed to go. I figured it'd be fun to spend time with my girls since I haven't been able to be around that often this semester. When I got back to campus (much later than I'd hoped to, after a series of strange occurences at school), I showered, did my makeup, and got dressed in my new, beautiful blue silk dress. I had brought back some of my nice jewelry from home to wear for the holiday concert at my student-teaching placement school, so I wore my pearls with the dress. I felt classy. I didn't have enough time to do my hair up, so I just pulled half of it back. My girls left without me.

As I sat on the bus waiting to go to the dance destination, I got a little mopey. Here I am, all alone. Everyone else on the bus was part of a couple. This is just like high school. I'm going to go to this dance, and I hate dancing. I'm gonna be the geeky girl again who "migrates" from one area to another because she doesn't want to dance. Or because she really can't dance. BestFriend, who was going with her fiance, called me at that moment. We'd been exchanging phone calls because she'd offered to give me a ride if I wasn't going with my girls. I had told her I'd go to where the buses were waiting to see if my girls were still there. They weren't, but I felt silly just walking back to my building, still alone. So I got on the bus. When she called this time, I knew she could tell I was feeling unhappy, but I figured I'd feel even sillier if I got off the bus now to wait for them to pick me up. So I told her I'd see her at the Ball. I gave myself a mental pep talk. Estrella, if you say you're going to have a rotten time, you probably will. I managed to convince myself that I would have a splendid time as long as I maintained an optimistic perspective.

Fortunately, when I arrived at the destination, I saw my girls and I joined them at the table. After we enjoyed a tasty meal, I went to other tables where my other girls were sitting. One of them showed me the book she'd brought, and another told me that she too was not into dancing. I'd found people I'd be able to talk with while the others were dancing! Yay! I saw BestFriend with her fiance and we took pictures together.

When the dancing started, one of my girls and I decided to leave the ballroom so we could chat without having to fight to be heard over the pulsating bass. We sat down in the hotel lobby, but when we heard Christmas music being played by a live band, we went to investigate. We discovered a party, attended by folks about my parents' age. This girl and I both sighed over the fact that this party had much better music than our Ball. The DJ at the Ball was playing rap and other contemporary music that I didn't recognize, music that is usually only danced to in such a manner that would make me blush if I were to even attempt dancing like that. After the Christmas song was over, the band took a break so we returned to the hotel lobby. We talked about how we both felt out of place at this type of event because it reminded us of High School. That turned into a deeper, more meaningful conversation about our shared faith beliefs and how we relate to friends of ours who are not like us. (This girl had been very supportive when I'd had a particularly rough day a few weeks ago and I ended up blurting out issues I've had with friends this semester.) I hope to stay in contact with this girl because I think she and I could be really close friends ... but she's going to be studying abroad next semester and I'll be graduating after that. I even ended up telling her about my silly crush on the Cute Guy From Church.

BestFriend and her fiance came out and found us talking. BestFriend had wanted to make sure I was still having a good time. I assured her I was. Then another resident of mine found us and grabbed my hand. "Come on Estrella, it's time for you to dance!" (I'd told my girls that I don't dance and they warned me that they'd make sure I danced anyway!) So she pulled me to the dance floor. (I knew resistance was futile so I didn't try to run away.) So I was standing there when this resident's boyfriend came up and started dancing right behind me. In the way that makes me blush. I moved away and was so flustered by this that I kidna stood around and took pictures until the song was over. Then I left in search of BestFriend.

I couldn't find BestFriend so I was walking back to the table I'd shared with some of my girls at dinner when another old friend stopped me. He'd been an RA with me last year and we had become very close friends. I've hardly seen him this semester and I do miss his friendship. His girlfriend was on the dance floor and he's not much of a dancer either, so we chatted for awhile. It was so wonderful to see him.

BestFriend came over with her fiance and I spoke with them and with some other friends who appeared before I headed back to the dance floor with them. (BestFriend did lead me by the hand, but I did come more willingly this time.) We danced to music which was more tolerable than earlier song selections and I found myself smiling even while dancing! After awhile, I left to find my residents because I'd shed some of my self-consciousness ad I wanted to show them that I was trying to dance, after all. We danced for a little longer before heading back to campus. It was a fun evening, after all. :-)