Falling in Love with Life
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
Six years ago, I was fortunate to go on a three-day, international dance cruise. It was amazing! If you ever get a chance to go on a dance cruise – go! There were dancers from all over the world and we danced, laughed and made memories every day from morning till 4 am. “Dance like nobody’s watching,” they say, but on this cruise, everyone was watching, and it was glorious.
On the final day, the organizers promised a foam party! I’d seen these in Rap videos but never thought I’d be cool enough to attend one. But there I was, dancing in the sun, feeling like a superstar.
A girl ran up to me, saying, “Hey, I’ve heard amazing things about you! You danced with my friend last night. She said she had a great time. Do you want to dance with me?” A tear of joy ran down my face as I replied, “Absolutely. Let’s dance.”
After dancing in the coolest foam party ever, she invited me to join her friends in the hot tub. I was trying to hold back tears of joy because I finally felt wanted, special, and part of the in-crowd. I had finally made it – partying in the hot tub with the cool kids, feeling like I was in a rap video and we even got bottle service. As we partied in the hot tub, another attractive brunette in a green bikini stood up, pointed at me, and said, “I’ve heard so many great things about you. Let’s dance.” I grinned, ready to follow her.
What happened next was like something out of a romantic comedy. As I was about to get out of the hot tub, someone grabbed my arm, yanked me back, and asked me something. To this day, I don’t remember what it was, but when I turned back, the girl in the green bikini had disappeared into the foam. I couldn’t see her anywhere!
Focussed on finding her, I jumped out of the hot tub and was ready to run after her. But I forgot about the foam, immediately slipped and started sliding towards the rails. Instead of worrying about my impending death, my only thought was, “I’m never going to dance with the girl in the green bikini!”
I crashed into this huge guy who stopped my slide and saved my life. I still had a chance with the girl in the green bikini! The guy I crashed into looked down and exclaimed, “Oh my God!”
Not even bothering to thank my saviour, I said, “Have you seen the girl in the green bikini?”
Still looking down, he shouted again, “Oh my God!”
“I know she is beautiful! Where is she?”
He finally said, “Dude, look at your foot!”
I finally looked down and saw that my toe was bent at a 90-degree angle. The adrenaline wore off and I then screamed in pain. The guy had saved my life, but in the process, I had broken my toe. My saviour pushed the alarm and the foam party stopped. The medics came but the floor was so slippery from the foam, that they had to drag me out by my arms. The next day because of my injury, for insurance purposes the cruise line insisted on using a wheelchair to get me off the ship. It was amazing how quickly I went from feeling like one of the cool kids to feeling rather humiliated. But it didn’t matter.
The next day, I taught my dance class, with a broken toe and all, smiling through the pain. I was doing what I loved, and that’s what mattered.
Life is like a dance floor, and sometimes you slip, fall, and break a toe. But as long as you’re doing what you love, it’s all part of the dance. So keep dancing, keep laughing, and if you ever find yourself at a foam party, watch out for those slippery decks, and if you ever find the attractive brunette in the green bikini, give me a call.
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