Dancing With Our Stars!

To begin, I must go back about 4 months... While at my bank's drive thru one day, I asked my teller where she got her hair done. She directed me to Jimmy Drake's salon in downtown and I went the next day. While getting my hair done and spilling my life story to my stylist, I asked about any dance studios in town. My stylist directed me to Elaine Willingham's Ballet Theatre School, and I went the next day. While waiting in the lobby for a ballet class, I met Shirley Quattlebaum. We got to talking and I told her I had moved down to help out my grandparents, and that my previous employment was instructing ballroom dancing. She looked at me in astonishment and said, "You don't even know why you're here, do you?". I replied, "I guess not...?", and she proceeded to inform me about a Relay for Life fundraiser that would be showcasing local "celebrities" around town in order to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Shirley, a local State Farm insurance agent, was asked to be one of the local stars. It was so magical and magnetic how all these events led to one another, and I was so excited to be asked to participate. I was paired with local judge Rusty Turner. We met in the middle of June and decided to dance a Foxtrot to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York". I choreographed our dance and we practiced at least once a week, every week until this Saturday. Rusty was a wonderful dance partner and a fast learner. Yesterday at Wallace State CC, the "Dancing With Our Stars" fundraiser took place. The show was a blast!! We had so much fun, and were glad to go early on down the list to get our nerves and our butts settled in the seats to watch the rest of the performers. The fundraiser raised over $4000 for the ACS, and is the first of many more to come! This has truly been a wonderful experience for me. I am humbled and honored to have been asked to participate. I hope and know this will be the first of many performances and fundraisers I will be apart of. Thank you ACS and Relay for Life for all you do. I hope there will be "many more birthdays" for so many cancer survivors!