Ordinary Wonderment

Today's Joy: Dinner & 'Dancing'.
In my family, Monday nights are sacred. Come 7 o'clock, my gregarious relatives drop whatever they're doing and turn the TV to Channel 7 (ABC). That's when Dancing With The Stars comes on. For that hour, the rest of the world melts away as we oooh and ahhh and critique form. We pronounce costumes breathtaking or in poor taste and weigh in on frames, lines and who was out of sync. We cheer on our favorite couples and predict who will get the boot on the next Results Show.

Half the fun is listening to each other's take on this season's odd assortment of celebrities. Pamela Anderson as a brunette: Yay! Chad Ochocinco giving Cheryl a hard time: Boo! If we aren't all together, someone calls or texts back and forth between dances. Did you see that? What is she wearing?? Oh, yeah--he needs to go!

Tonight's installment saw us all gathered at Aunt's house, where I made pork tenderloin & cranberry pistachio stuffing. We ate heartily in between waltzes and Argentine Tangoes, all a bit baffled by Judge Len Goodman's commentary, as well as his unfortunate choice of shirt & tie: lime green & orange! For that single hour, we were the ones on the dance floor, wrapped in sequins and ostrich feathers, doing the cha-cha with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and crossing our fingers we won't be in the bottom two. I'm telling you, Reader, it's the most fun you can have without strapping on your dance shoes!