Thanksgiving Getaway

Thanksgiving was rough this year. There was literally an empty table setting at my grandfather's end of the table. It didn't help that when we got in a circle to say thanks, my family broke down into tears one by one. It was really hard to watch; the most difficult being my grandmother who sobbed so hard she could barely stand.

I don't really enjoy being upset (who does?!) and so I had plans for the following day to escape from MD, escape from school, escape from this madness and dance all weekend long. At 4am on Black Friday I flew out to the west coast where I landed in LA along with nearly a thousand other swing dancers from around the globe. We were gathering for the US Open - the biggest swing dance championship in the west coast swing world. It's the biggest competition where the best compete with each other for the title. Of course, I was there to watch and social dance... no competitions for me... I'm not quite good enough for that yet. Maybe next year.

The hotel sits on Disney property, so on Saturday night a group of us went to Downtown Disney to hang out. We danced to the music they were playing in the park which drew all sorts of attention - It was an absolute blast and I'm so happy I got to go. The image is from our shenanigans at the Disney resort (Sorry for the blur!). We had a great time! AND I have to add this - normally everyone travels the Sunday after Thanksgiving so there is no way that i would make a flight home. However, fate decided that I would be flying back on Sunday night, and make it to Rochester in time for my 10am class on Monday morning. It was brilliant!