I’m always amazed at weddings to see old uncle Bert and aunt Edna get up and dance so gracefully across the dance floor while I’m there uncoordinatedly dancing as if I was wearing a Depends needing a desperate change. Heck, it’s my uncle Bert who wears Depends yet he just has those smooth moves I wish I had. So last year I convinced my wife to take some dancing lessons with the hopes that when I get to be 72 years old and invited to a wedding, I too will be able to get on that dance floor and just like uncle Bert, impress all the young folks.
After a few months of lessons I can honestly say that I’ve improved. I’ve gone from Bambi on ice to John Travolta on crack! Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration but I have more confidence on the dance floor and although I’m not 72 yet, I sure look forward to that next wedding. Now as long as uncle Bert doesn’t show up, I should be good enough to make aunt Ethel(Edna’s envious sister) wish she was young again.
Now what does this have to do with Charlie’s Angels?
Well my wife is a high-school teacher and every year she helps put together a school talent show. I like to help out a bit too by creating some of the advertising graphics and photographing the evening so that the kids will have souvenirs of this memorable event. This year she gathered 10 students (5 couples) and taught them the Cha-Cha, the dance we learned, as one of the acts.
Before the show, 3 of the dancers wanted me to photograph them. I was not ready for this as I was setup for low tungsten light telephoto photography. Now I wasn't about to say no to these cuties so I quickly changed my lens and scrambled though my camera's settings to readjust and shot some images back stage even though the improvised background was bad.
When I got back home I looked through all my images I shot during the event. I liked one of the backstage shots and decided to get a bit creative. I cut out the bad background and replaced it with flames and this quickly turned out to be Charlie’s Angels.
I sat back later that evening and realized how ironic this whole dancing idea had become. Last year I just wanted to be like my old uncle Bert so that I could dance like him when I’m 72. Now I wish I was that 16 year old kid with braces that danced with these beautiful girls that night!
But after even more reflecting I realized that when uncle Bert goes gliding by me so elegantly with Aunt Edna on the dance floor, he looks at me and wishes he was still 43 and dancing with my beautiful wife.
From the brighter side of the dark room,
