Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Making Me Feel Comfortable

I mentioned dancing lessons in my last post.

Well, believe it or not, I have been tapped to be a "celebrity dancer" for our annual library foundation fundraiser. Our library in Perrysburg is named the Way Library after Willard Way, a long ago citizen, who gave money to start the first library. With that in mind, our event is called Dance aWay With the Stars.

Okay, you have the setting.

Now, I love to dance, but don't get to do it often and I don't know what I'm doing when I do dance. I figure moving my feet to the beat is half the battle!

I have been assigned a "professional" who is helping me to learn the maranga and who will also dance with me the night of the show. As far as I'm concerned, I hit the jackpot with this assignment. Neal Hopkins, was a professional dancer in another life. He has the dancer body, tall and lithe. Think Tommy Tune, but just not quite as tall. Neal now owns a State Farm insurance agency.

At every practice Neal has made me feel like a dancer, even when I turn the wrong way or can't get my hips to sway appropriately. (Believe me, this is not easy!) We have fun. He knows what we need to do and knows that I want him to take charge. Cool!

But the best part happened in an email. You see we received an email from the library letting us know that photos would be taken next week at practice and that we needed to wear something dressy. Right away my anxiety level increased. I don't go clubbing. I don't have slinky clothes. What was I going to do??????

Neal put me at ease, when confirming our practice time for this week, he wrote, "We'll talk about what we need to wear for next week's photo." Right away, because of my experience already, I knew that I didn't have to worry about this little item one more second. Neal will handle it and will make it easy.

Thank you, Neal!

And isn't that what networking is all about, making others feel comfortable and relaxed so they can enjoy the moment?

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