Drudgery and a Dance!

Day 77: Thursday, October 15, 2009

Ughh! Eight solid hours of schoolwork today! We were supposed to have only six, but John got an extra two hours tacked on for something he did. The only bad thing about that is the fact that I, of course, got an extra two hours as well! His punishment became my punishment – or so I thought. Toward the end of the eight hours, I was becoming restless and delirious! I could barely concentrate, and to make matters worse, the cruise ship had a live band playing all the classics: Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. I was dying! I wanted to dance with someone – anyone – so badly! Then, the most adorable thing happened! John looked at me and suddenly said, “You want to dance, don’t you?” I started laughing and said, “Yes! How did you know?” And he replied, “Because every time they start a new song you sigh and sing a little bit of it.” Well, that really cracked me up, because I didn’t even realize that I was doing that! Then he said, “Why don’t you go dance?” I told him that I couldn’t because I didn’t have anyone to dance with, and that everyone on this ship already came with someone else. Now, are you ready for this? John couldn’t have been more endearing when he said, “I’ll dance with you.” Ahhh! That sent me into a fit of giggles, but it simultaneously warmed my heart to the core. I politely declined. I told him that we needed to finish our schoolwork, but he insisted. “Just for five minutes, Miss Zeiler, five minutes.” And I could not refuse that!

And I have to tell you, he put his heart and soul into it. We were the two silliest people that you have ever seen. I taught him some steps during Michel Buble’s “Sway,” which he readily picked up. We grinned and giggled for about ten minutes time and then resumed our studies. I needed that, and he knew it. Children are amazing in that way – incredibly perceptive and generous to a fault. John made a world of difference to me: a little eleven-year-old boy made me smile and made me laugh; he was a little songbird of joy and happiness to me today. Because of him, I felt young and vibrant. He put a little skip in my step for the rest of the evening. Ironically, his little punishment became my little blessing after all (which made up for my very bad loss at the tables tonight!).