Grandpa Goes to Dance

Grandpa here. Last night I had the pleasure of accompanying Namine to dance class.

Grandpa here. Last night I had the pleasure of accompanying Namine to dance class. As Paul has written elsewhere, Namine has worked out how to use her walker to do what the others girls are doing to the best of her abilities.

First was a half-hour ballet class, followed by a half-hour of jazz. I confess, other than changing from pink ballet shoes to black jazz ones, the classes kind of blurred together for me, although, during jazz, the girls practiced their routine for the upcoming recital, to the tune of “G.N.O. (Girl’s Night Out),” by Hannah Montana, or possibly Miley Cyrus. Namine expertly switched from doing a fancy box step to some elaborate arm and head movements. And her hip wiggles? Don’t even get me started! She was fabulous. Are girls born knowing how to do this?

During part of class, the girls lined up along one wall and took turns crossing the room diagonally, first doing front kicks, then back kicks, then leaps. Namine did the movements while her walker was stationary, and her teacher came over to check on each movement in turn. Meanwhile, after the girls crossed the room, they’d stop and chat with Namine as they returned to the back of the line.

After class, I had her climb back into her wheelchair so we could leave, but she immediately got back on the floor and told me, “I have to say goodbye to my friends.” She scooted around the entire room to give each girl a hug. And the girls hugged her back, with earnest affection.

One little girl left with her mom before Namine had a chance to hug her—a little cutie who wore her Laplander hat all through class, like Edith in Despicable Me.

Namine saw her in the parking lot and called goodbye to her. She, in turn, said to her mom, “I’ve got to say goodbye to Namine,” so she came over to our car, where Namine was already buckled in, and crawled inside to give Namine a hug.

After taking Namine home, I returned to my house and the rancor of the Republican debate on TV. What a wonderful world this would be if we could all be less like those gentlemen arguing and talking over each other, and more like those little girls hugging.

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