This update may or may not have to last me a while.

Today is Luke’s last day home for the holidays. Tonight I’m cooking the dinner of his request. Tomorrow morning I drive him back to Dallas to catch his flight to Chicago O’Hare. In case you’re wondering, it’s cold in Chicago. Luke checked the weather a few days ago, and the wind chill was negative 20. Brrrrr.

Wednesday morning we heard a friend and his really great band play at a chapel service in Tyler, then drove on to Dallas and heard my nephew Nathan’s band play at the Galaxy Club in Deep Ellum that night. They were awesome. Nathan introduced one song, explaining he’d written it about Jacob. He mentioned how Jacob had always been his leader, and after the drowning accident, he felt lost. Then he sang this amazing song about not giving up. Oh man. I sat at a table in the middle of a somewhat sleezy bar with tears streaming down my face. I didn’t even know he’d written the song. Very touching and very cool.

This morning Luke and I went to the local high school to teach swing dance steps to the choir. I’m choreographing a 1940’s USO-type musical production for them, and almost all the songs are big band swing. So, while I had Luke and his dancing shoes in town, I took advantage of the opportunity to teach some of the harder moves. I wanted the guys to actually see another guy doing the steps. It was lots of fun. Luke enjoyed it, too. He was a member of that choir last year, so lots of the same people are still there.

The show is February 6-8, which means I need to get my rear in gear! I haven’t made up any of the dances yet, because I didn’t get the music until after the holidays. Thankfully, swing dances are some of the easiest ones to choreograph, but it will take a while to teach it all to the kids. That means almost daily rehearsals between now and then. Basically the next month of my life will be spent on this show, plus I’ll have to keep all the regular fires stoked, too. So if I’m not around LJ much, you’ll know why.

This is my eighth year choreographing for the high school musicals, and I do love this particular branch on the tree of my life. It’s not without its headaches, but in the end the kids always come through, perform great, and lavish me with their youthful appreciation. There’s something about a big, hulking, “cool” football player-type guy coming up after the last show, hugging you, and saying, “Thanks for teaching me to dance.” Heh. He’ll thank me again a million times in his heart when he’s king of the dance floor at his college. Girls always swoon over the guys who can really dance. (Right, Luke? *wink*)

So, yeah. I’m off to do all the stuff that needs doing, which is a lot of stuff and a lot of doing of that stuff. Marvel at my eloquence!

Ciao!
EZ