Tea for Two, and Two for Tea.....

I loved my mother.  But, the funny thing is, I love her more each day that she is in heaven.  When things were happening while I was growing up, I didn't fully appreciate her actions and I didn't fully appreciate the amazing life lessons I was receiving.

One day, when I was in Grade 12, she came home and said she had signed me up for Tap Dancing Classes.  I wasn't thrilled.  Then, she told me that one of her friends was teaching in her basement.  My mom had just found out that her friend was a professional tap dancer in her 20s.  For a reason, that I don't remember, my mom's friend had to find a job.  She had been a homemaker her entire life and was past middle-aged, so she was going to teach tap dancing in her basement.  While I thought I was a rebellious teenager, I clearly wasn't. 

My father had a strategy for raising me as a teenager.  He didn't want me to work.  I babysat all through junior high but once I was in high school, he didn't allow me to work.  In addition to making school work a priority, he wanted me to volunteer as much as possible and contribute in as many extra-curricular activities as I could.  He wanted to make me a good citizen.  The jury is still out on that one.  So, my father figured out how much I would be able to make if I actually had a job and he added $20 to this and that was my allowance.  Plus, I was spoiled rotten and got a car when I got my driver's licence.  High school was not a bad period in my life.  So, I always understood my dad's motives, sometimes my mom's actions were unclear.   Like tap dancing lessons.  Really. 

My mother was equally excited to show me the outfit that she got me for my lessons.  A powder pink leotard and powder pink tights and pink ballet slippers.  I was to get the actual tap shoes when I had progressed. 

My lessons were to be 4:00 pm on Tuesdays.  I changed at school and drove myself to her home.  The other mother's asked which child was mine.  There were 5 four year olds looking adorable in their pink outfits with pink ribbons in their hair.  I was the 6th student looking uncomfortable in my pink outfit with no ribbons in my hair.  I literally couldn't wait to kill my mother. 

Then, our teacher came downstairs.  I had met her several times at the curling rink but I had never seen her like this.  She was wearing a black leotard and black tights.  She smoked cigarettes while teaching.  Her next major birthday would be 60, but, those legs.  She had the most amazing legs I had ever seen.  Anne Margaret legs.  And she hadn't danced in decades.  And she smoked.  Yet, her legs were amazing.  I was willing to give tap dancing a try. 

The first class was to learn the basic move that is the foundation for all other tap dancing moves.  Step.  Shuf-fle.  Ball.  Change.  I don't mean to brag, but I was the first student  in my class to get this.  I mastered it in one class.  I left these four year olds in the dust.  My teacher decided that I didn't need the ballet slippers anymore and I could order actual tap dancing shoes.

I attended 4 lesson on Tuesdays at 4:00 pm.  On one of those days, my best friend Isabel invited me over after school so we could work on a project together.  I told her I couldn't.  When she pressed me, I told her I had tap dancing lessons.  She laughed so hard she cried.  She forced me to open my locker where she looked at my powder pink outfit and my tap dancing shoes.  She put her hands in my shoes and tapped her way through the locker walls.  She teased me unmercifully for the entire year.  I didn't care because my legs were starting to get some nice definition. 

After my fourth lesson, my teacher had gotten more students so she now had several more classes.  She suggested that since I was her oldest student that I get private lessons on Saturday morning.  I was sad.  I had gotten to like my four year olds.  They still hadn't mastered  step. shuf-fle. ball. change.  It was nice being the best in the class, for a change. 

But, the teacher thought it would be best for everyone for me to have private lessons.  The consolation was that I would be able to get a black leotard and tights.  I gotta tell you, I looked mighty fine. 

The Saturday lessons weren't all that productive.  My teacher was a great dancer but didn't have experience teaching.  Every now and then, she would let loose and show me what she was capable of.  She was awesome, and those legs.  Her legs were so amazing and motivating.  By the end of the year, with a lot of hard work, I was able to tap dance to "Tea for Two." 

Picture you upon my knee, 
Just tea for two and two for tea,
Just me for you
And you for me alone.

Nobody near us
To see us or hear us,
No friends or relations
On weekend vacations.
We won't have it known, dear,
That we own a telephone, dear;

Day will break and you'll awake 
And start to bake a sugar cake, 
For me to take
For all the boys to see.

We will raise a family, 
A boy for you, a girl for me.
Oh, can't you see
How happy we would be?

Yup.  I could dance to that.  (I still can.)  I am probably twice the size that I was in high school, but, throughout all the ups and downs, I have always had fairly nice legs.  When no one is watching, I tap dance in my living room.  It is great aerobic exercise.  

At the end of the year, the teacher wanted to have a recital to showcase her School of Tap Dance.  I had to draw the line.  I was not going to dance publicly when all of her other students were under the age of 10.  

When I think of tap dancing, I think of my mom.  She was the kind of woman who would do anything to help a friend.  She had the biggest heart ever.  What a wonderful role model for me.  I miss her every day.  I wonder if that will ever stop?  I hope not.