Shannon Taps Her Way Into Your Heart

First of all, sorry guys for not updating at all last week. As you can see from my previous blog post, I had a pretty eventful one. More on that later! Today's post is about tap dancing which, you are probably thinking, has nothing to do with AD/HD. Ah, but you see, you can make ANYTHING about AD/HD because AD/HD is all about being random. No, but really, the only way that this post has anything to do with AD/HD is that exercise is good for building energy and focus in the AD/HD individual.

By the way, if anyone is wondering why I'm writing AD***SLASH***HD it's because it is apparently now the "standardized" way of referring to ADD or ADHD and it's sort of like saying "ADD, with or without hyperactivity." Man, I had to type "hyperactivity" like three times. I kept trying to spell it "dyperactivity." Diaper activity? I think that's what my new mother friend jen (MNMFJ!) is doing a lot of these days. But I digress.

Anyway. So yeah. I have come to realize as of late, like, uh, the last 5 years, that I'm seriously getting out of shape. I always wanted to be one of those people who was as active as a 25 year old when they are 60. Now, at about 8 months away from turning 30, (ohmigod, only 8 months to plan the worlds super most awesome 30th birthday EVER!) I'm realizing that I should start out by avoiding being a 30 year old who's as in shape as a 60 year old.

But, I kind of hate exercise. I can go to the gym MAYBE three times in a row before I decide that it's super boring, no matter how much awesome Michael Jackson music I put on my iPod. An eliptical machine is still going nowhere and I shudder just thinking about whether I want to watch the monitor with MTV or CNN with the sound off. Not that I really want to GO somewhere with my exercise. The thought of lugging my butt up a dusty hill where the air is filled with ragweed also does not motivate to get off of my Ikea Erktorp loveseat. What do I like to do that involves movement? There must be SOMETHING. I mean, besides buying the big keyboard from the movie Big and playing chopsticks every night.

But ah, yes, what did I do as a Kid? And why did I just capitalize the word Kid? When I was a kid, I danced! I went to probably about 3-5 hours of dance classes a week between the ages of 7 and 15 - jazz, ballet and, probably my favorite because I was best at it, tap! So I look at the schedule of my local dance studio - a really premire institution, actually, called The Edge (no, there isn't a studio next door called Bono, just Gold's Gym). You can look it up at www.edgepac.com if anyone is interested. Just about the only class that is my level that I can fit into my schedule is the basic level tap class. So I get really lucky and find a pair of tap shoes on eBay for 99 CENTS. They were really nice and fit me perfectly. I need to send the lady who sold them to me a gift card or something because I paid less for the shoes and the shipping altogether than she paid for the shipping alone. I was so excited when I got them that I immediately put them on, thought I was half-dressed and wearing a towel on my head, and started tap-dancing in the kitchen. 30 seconds later, I realized I was making huge scuff marks on the floor, so I took it outside to my concrete "patio" (actually, 8'x5' area by the dumpster). And did some tapping out there (now fully clothed and no towel on head). This proved rather detimental to the shoes themselves so I tried to wait until class.

But anyway. Actually making myself go to class on Saturday, that was another thing. I kept hoping something would come up. I was worried that everyone else there would be 17 and know what they were doing. Finding no excuse not to go, I dragged my butt down to the dance studio. I forgot what dance studios *smell* like. How to explain? I guess if you imagine walking off of an elevator and walking into a sweaty old shoe. Actually, imagine getting hit in the face with a sweaty old shoe. Apparently good ventilation is not high on their list of priorities.

Once people started showing up to the class, there was a pretty good mix of beginners and people like me who used to dance but hadn't forever. In fact, there were two people about my age who were taking their first ever class, which made me feel a lot better. The teacher was very good and led us along gradually, beginning with just tow-taps and heel taps and working up to a few legitimate steps at the end. By then, I was having tons of fun and adding my own sweat to the hit-in-the-face-with-a-shoe smell. I even felt like the class was, dare I say, a little too basic?

Anyway, long story short, I had tons of fun and felt energized and happy all day. So, who wants to go back with me next Saturday? :)