Why Blog?

Everybody is talking blogging these days. I love to write. It seems like a great way to finally really let me do it creatively. Why did I choose this title you ask? It is one of my all time favorites especially when the great Tony Bennett sings it. It is so powerful and we have all experienced it at some point. It doesn't even have to be about love-just the fun times that friends have.

This summer has been one of the most fun and painful summers that I have experienced. To start off, 2011 was one of the hottest summers that I could remember. Temperatures were up in the 90's and almost 100% humidity,  but on those hottest nights, my friends, Steve and Anna, Rich, and Flo, would be hitting the salsa dance floors. I never in my wildest dreams pictured myself hitting the downtown Minneapolis salsa clubs.

When I originally started to ballroom dance, I wanted to do the smooth dances like the waltz and the tango. I didn't have anyone to dance with, but one day Robert announced that there was a guy going to be joining the class next week. I blew it off thinking that it wasn't going to be anything, but it turned out to be a guy around my age and he was coming by himself. Cute on top of that!

We didn't dance until the Night on the Town which was two weeks away and we ended up dancing together a lot that night and found out about each other. He liked to do the Latin dances since he had lived in Puerto Rico for a time. He reminded me strongly of someone from my past and so I started to like him and like salsa music. The next Night on the Town, he was taking forever getting there and so I decided to head out early and I told the instructors good-bye and was about to head out the door when he showed up. Of course, I got teased big time the next lesson about staying after he showed up.

The group of us eventually started dancing together and during the summer months we hit the salsa clubs. We tried Loring Pasta Bar-you must get out and dance right away before the club music starts. It was so hot that night. We would be standing and just sweat. The next time it was Conga Latin Bistro and again really hot. I had just known about the basic salsa step, but Rich taught me all about the merengue and bachata. I started my love for the hispanic culture on those hot dancing nights. Even though nothing can happen between me and Rich, we will always have those hot salsa nights. He opened a whole new world for me and no one can take those memories away from me.