Happiness Project 2011: What Did I Do For Fun When I Was 10 Years Old?

What did I do for fun when I was 10 years old?  That is such an easy question.  If I were a student sitting in class right now, I would be bouncing in my seat with my hand in the air making “Oo Oo” noises.   When I was 10 years old and I wanted to have some fun, I would dance in my garage.

My garage wasn’t just any old, regular garage.  My garage was a supped-up, dance garage.  For my birthday, my grandmother bought me a piece of cream-colored, linoleum flooring big enough to cover half of the garage. (Yes, I was very excited about getting a big role of linoleum. Seriously.)  And my parents installed floor-to-ceiling mirrors and a ballet barre.  At first I used a record player and my father’s sound system to play records and cassette tapes.  I made up dances to everything from “Black or White” by Michael Jackson and “Material Girl” by Madonna to “Honey Bun” from South Pacific and “Master of the House” from Les Miserables. 

I would do my ballet warm-ups at the barre: plies, tondues and rondejambes.  I would tap out shuffles, flaps and time steps.  I would spin and jump (though I could never jump very high and would later resort to wearing ankle weights for hours at a time before a performance to try to increase the height of my jumps) and shake my body from the time I finished my homework until dinner.  In the winter I would have to set up a portable standing heater because it was so cold in the garage and dance-time usually ended when mom got home and pulled the car in, instead of having to leave it outside in the snow. 

Sometimes I would make up dances with my friends and sometimes I just danced alone.  In the summer we would put on performances using the entire soundtrack from The Little Mermaid.   The grand finale would involve us jumping in the pool.  (Mermaids have to be in the water, after all.) 

But the older I got, the more self-conscious I became and, when someone opened the garage door to walk through or call me for dinner, I would stop mid-step and wait until the person was gone.  I stopped putting on impromptu performances and only practiced the routines for whatever show I was preparing for at dance class – a recital, a competition, The Nutcracker.  And then, for a while, I didn’t dance anywhere.

I have to say that dancing around the house always made me happy.  I’m not sure my mother appreciated the pirouettes in the kitchen while she was trying to cook, but it gave us both plenty to talk and laugh about.  I wanted to be a professional dancer, but realized at the age of 14 that I was lacking the right amount of talent and had more than enough in the way of poundage.  I know, I know former-classmates, I was never fat!  I just wasn’t skinny enough (nor did I want to be) to go pro. 

Thinking about all the dancing I used to do is making me miss it so much!   Thankfully I have to go make up so dance routines for my school’s dinner theater production.  Hopefully my husband doesn’t mind me spinning in the kitchen while he’s cooking!  Five, six, seven, eight….

Okay,  I am not 10-years-old in this picture.  I'm 16.  But it's the only dance picture I have on my computer at the moment.  I'm second row from the back, third girl from the left.  Yes, that's a tiara on my head.  Tiaras make me happy.  Sometimes I wear one while I clean.