WALTZING VIRGINIA

The Dixie Chicks were right!

Sometimes, ya gotta dance!  It is good for the sagging soul, the weary spirit...and it really is great exercise!

I know this for a fact because  I have absolutely loved dancing since I was just a little tyke. It makes me smile, though you wouldn't know it from my expression in that photo at left.

Yeah, that's me with my doll, Virginia, cuttin' a rug at our house in Madeira, OH.  Actually, I think that was my sister's doll that I had  "borrowed" for the evening.  Or maybe I had inherited Virginia, since my sis was -- and still is  (teehee) -- eight years older than me, and she may have decided it was time for Virginia to move on...

At any rate, I do remember dancing with Virginia that evening...probably to the tune of my dad's old Glenn Miller records.  I would even go so far as to say that I have my dad and mom to thank for instilling in me my love for dancing, as I can also recall them dancing cheek- to- cheek in the living room on occasion -- one of the few times, I might add, that they weren't arguing.  But I digress.

My dad would also let me dance on his feet when I was just a little thing.  Anybody else ever do that back in the day?  I'd stand on his big, ol' feet -- he was wearing shoes, of course -- and I would wrap my arms around his waist and he would hold on to me and take me dancing across the living room, into and around the kitchen.

And oh, how I'd giggle!  Or, like in the photo at right, sometimes, my dad would just swoop me up in his arms and waltz around the house, humming a cheery tune with a beat...which may explain my love affair with Dick Clark and American Bandstand.  I loved watching that show when I was little...I yearned to be on the show someday, being one of the lucky gals who got to rate the song everyone was dancing to.

"I'd give it a 10, Dick, cuz you can really dance to it."

I also loved watching my sister Mash Potato-ing her way around the house to her Beach Boy records.

And then there was by best friend's mom.  Dottie was -- and still is -- a FUN mom!  I will always remember  that snowy afternoon in her living room when she taught us how to do  The Watusi, The Jerk, and possibly The Swim ( I had already caught on to The Twist).  We were dancing to Incense and Peppermint, I believe... or Judy In Disguise (With Glasses).

I think those early years of tapping my toes led me try out for our high school drill team. Over those fun-filled four years, I marched and kicked my legs to the hip sound of  Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog, Theme From Hawaii Five-O, Crocodile Rock...  (Hard to believe there was a time when I could kick my legs over my head, while today I can barely roll out of bed.)

Yes,  drill team was just swell till our drill team captain one year had the crazy idea that we hoof it to Honky Tonk Woman.  We loved it! Some parents in the bleachers, however, complained that the song was way too suggestive, and we were told to tame our routines. Trust me, HTW and our moves back then were so mild and benign compared to the music and moves of high school dance teams today.  Holy Toledo!

After high school, of course, there was disco, and I was, indeed a Disco Diva into my early college years. And  I was always the one dragging people out onto the dance floor at the first class reunion. I believe it was at our 15th reunion that my passion for dancing was rekindled during an energetic whirl to Love Shack.

All this is to say that if that Dr. Oz doesn't email me my Move It And Lose IT log-in and further instructions pretty damn quick, I am going to be forced to excavate my old Richard Simmons Sweatin' To The Oldies tape from the bottom of a moldy tote in my basement, haul  out the old TV/VCR combo  and let 'er rip. Let's go, Doc!  It doesn't take much for me to lose my resolve to exercise, and there's a bag of peanut M&MS with my name on it stashed away in my underwear drawer...

Clock's tickin', Dr. O.

Don't make me do The Sprinkler.