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Two years ago, I began ballroom dancing, in preparation for my first Dancing With Our Stars (DWOS) experience and I haven’t stopped. I had decided to get involved with DWOS back in 2010 because I’ve had two sons with leukemia and was finally at a place where I could give back to the Santa Clarita community, which supported our family so generously. I am honored to have had the opportunity to dance again this year, this time, for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Light The Night Walk. My sons taught me the importance of playtime. Sick kids never stop trying to have fun. Through them, I allowed myself to discover just how therapeutic ballroom dancing can be.
Dancing can be done anywhere. I recently saw a group of dancers in the middle of the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica doing the Salsa. Snappish men and saucy women swayed and swirled over each other’s arms and legs in perfect rhythm, it was delicious and made me hunger for more. Hurray for them, I thought, and maybe me someday soon.
In the beginning, each week of practice had exposed me to another layer of myself, leaving me with a feeling of vulnerability I didn’t always enjoy.
“Stay closer when you turn,” my instructor Richard would say. “Stop running away from me after that cross-body lead.”
I felt like I was going to hit him with my elbow or other protruding parts. But as I have learned to follow his lead and recognize his hand directions, a trust has developed. It is like reading sign language, only without the use of my eyes. I can now feel the Cha Cha, Swing, Waltz and even the Hustle. Against my natural desire to fight being lead, following has become natural.
Of course, all of this came as a wonderful surprise after many difficult years. I did not expect to discover my inner child through the lives of the sick children I’ve known. But, here I am, a bereaved mother with two healthy college age daughters, and a twelve-year-old leukemia survivor son, finding myself still stirred to wakefulness in the middle of the night dancing my way through the ups and downs of life in the hope of honoring them.
DWOS and LLS’s Light The Night Walk have both afforded me the opportunity to honor my children in this way. At the Santa Clarita Light The Night Walk on October 13 at Bridgeport Park, I will walk with my family to celebrate my son Jacob’s life after leukemia, and to commemorate the life of my son Justin. Jacob, whose 13th birthday happens to be that very same day, will carry an illuminated white balloon as a survivor. My family will carry a gold balloon in memory of Justin. And a sea of community supporters will carry illuminated red balloons at dusk as a symbol of the hope we will be providing those who’ve been impacted by blood cancers. I invite you to join me to walk on October 13. Simply register here and help raise funds for the critical work of LLS.
For more information, visit www.lightthenight.org
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