Okay, so I've supervised many teen dances in my career with the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club. Sometimes they are outrageous and I see way to many inappropriate situations that I have to break up. They can be stressful and frustrating... or disappointing seeing this crazy generation and their crazy habits.
But guess what?! Tonight I was a chaperon for a multi-stake dance at the church and it was FABULOUS. :) I honestly enjoyed myself the whole time and loved being there. I'm in the stake Young Women so it was a good opportunity for me to fulfill a snippet of my calling and be there to support. Our stake is in charge of the big dance in October so Marchele (the President) and I wanted to go and see how they organized their dance, etc. Like secret spies. :) Marchele brought her hilarious daughter, Cassidy (age 21) and I brought my roommate, Cassity, who is also known to be funny... so the 4 of us had a blast. :) We basically hung out in the pavilion (outdoor dance) most of the night and we were in charge of making sure kids didn't sneak off beyond the grass-line.
At one point we saw 2 boys racing across the field and hid back behind a shed. I enjoyed watching from the bench as the other 3 ladies set off like cops-- flashlight and all-- and busted those kids. Bahahaha. It was so funny. I love the way Cassidy shined her light like a champ and told them they needed to get back to the dance. Scared the crap out of them. Other than that... it was smooth sailing.
Girls Camp was about a month ago so this was the first time I saw many of my new little youth friends since that week. I was just sitting there on the table and one after another, girls would come up and say "Breeee!" and greet me with a hug. It was precious. Some girls brought their friends up to introduce them to me. Made me feel special or something.
One of my little buddies, Gentry, is Marchele's daughter and such a funny kid. She's tough and sporty but such a sweet, kind-hearted girl. I loved watching her because she was all over the place-- dancing, making new friends, socializing, etc. But any time I went out on the "dance floor" and she saw me, she'd peace out and go the other way. Like I was her mom embarrassing her or something! I thought to myself, "Sheesh... I'm not THAT bad, am I?" So I danced for a minute with some other girls... long enough to sing out the "rap" part of a Justin Bieber song that I learned a while back. Felt good about myself and then wandered back to my chaperon station. :)
I loved talking to the girls, encouraging them to ask boys to dance, and to remind them to just say "Yes" if a nice boy asked them to dance. You can't be a jerk at church dances... just dance with whoever and have fun! I even told one girl she was only allowed to sit by me for 5 minutes at a time, and then she had to go back out on the dance floor. She sat the 5 minutes... left to go meet up with her friends, and ended up dancing the whole time! Good for her. :) I sometimes felt like a "proud parent" when I saw the girls I knew slow-dancing with boys and what not. Awwww. Cute.
What a fun night. So much more enjoyable and relaxing than the other teen dances I've supervised. The church standards bring a little magic to that. October will be crazy. I'll be supervising a teen dance at the Club on Friday, and the very next night is the multi-stake church dance our stake is in charge of. Yee haw! Just can't get enough. I'll need to think up a good costume... dun dun dun...
