Dancing in the Glade

Spring has finally come to Indiana; the air is warm, flowers are blooming, and the feeling of anticipation in the air. I thought I would celebrate by posting my favorite fairy painting by Edward Robert Hughes and a snippet of my favorite fairy poem by Yeats, Stolen Child. Here they are:



Come away oh human child
To the waters and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.

In some ways they both have a a pensiveness about them; the woman in the painting seems reluctant to dance with the fairies, even though she is clearly invited. The Yeats poem certainly seems full of longing.

For me, neither the painting nor the poem are sad...they are both a reminder that life is full of possibilities, but it is finite.

Gary and I determined this year to bring as much excitement to our Latin dancing as we have to our many swings. Latin dancing hasn't come naturally to us. It's hard, especially the clave. We've tried it out a couple of times and it blew up.

But that's OK. Dancing is hard. It's the most difficult thing I've ever done. It's sometimes embarrassing to mess up. But making mistakes comes with the territory.

I don't want to be that woman in the glade, worrying that I won't be as good as my fairy hosts. I don't want to stand around all night wondering what could have been. And I don't want to leave this earth thinking too bad I never went to a Latin club.

So. If you've ever wanted to dance...dance! It's spring. A time of renewal. To try something new. In the words of one of my new favorites to dance to, Lady Gaga, just...dance. :-)

Just dance, gonna be okay,
Just dance, spin that record babe,
Just dance, gonna be okay,
Dance, dance, just.