When I was in Junior High school all of my classmates were attempting to learn the skill of dancing. We had a class in school where a brave teacher was instructing us on the art of dancing. About that time it was the "in" thing for those who could afford it, to have dance parties. Many of the birthday parties were dances.

My cousin, Bobby Ann, who was the same age as me, had a birthday dance. Her parents rented a community hall for the occasion and many friends of my cousin's came to the party, dressed in their "Sunday go to meetin' clothes."

My cousin and I weren't in the same school in La Junta, her crowd was definitely of a different type than mine. I suspected I was invited because her mother was my Dad's sister. After all we were cousins.

There were no tapes in that day, 78 R.P.M. records were played on a phonograph. The music sounded pretty good (for that day.)

But there was a problem, the girls stood on one side of the room talking and laughing, trying to make it look as if they weren't dying to be asked to dance. The boys punched at each other or held up the wall on the other side of the room. No one danced to the lovely phonograph music that filled the atmosphere. The party didn't seem to be too successful.

But the mood took a definite upswing when my mother and my older sister, Lois came into the room. My big sister was four years older than me, but she was small. She worked as a waitress at the Kit Carson Hotel and had waited tables that evening. My mother had gone to pick her up from work. Lois was wearing her white waitress uniform. It was slightly dirty from a day of serving food. They decided to stop on the way home and see how the big birthday dance was doing.

As soon as they came in, several of those super shy guys made a beeline to my sister and asked her to dance. She was shocked and surprised. Lois danced the rest of the evening.

"I was in my dirty uniform," she laughed. She didn't understand why she was the belle of the ball but she enjoyed it.

The lure of the "older" woman broke the ice and pretty soon a few more boys summoned their courage and asked a girl to dance. Now there were some couples on the floor. I never did ask my cousin how she liked this older woman upstaging her birthday, but I wasn't too thrilled with the whole evening.I might have danced once or twice but I knew that I was a wallflower to an older woman in a dirty uniform! I didn't think I liked dances. I wasn't too enthused over those dancing classes anymore but the teacher continued her efforts.

A few months later I got another chance to see how well I had learned to dance. The grand 8th grade prom was coming. A boy in our class asked me to go with him. I can't remember his name and I didn't know him, but I was excited. My first date! I had a pretty dress and looked forward to a wonderful evening. When the big day arrived my date, chauffeured by his father, picked me up and we rode in the back seat of his father's car as he escorted us to the school gym.

Now, even though I'm short today I wasn't always short. No kidding, when I was in Junior high I was as tall as everyone else and taller than some, especially my first date. To my embarrassment as we started dancing I discovered that I was a head taller than my date. I could nearly rest my chin on the top of his head. I felt like a giant. I didn't want to dance, I would have preferred being a lonely wallflower than having to turn around the floor with someone that short.

To make matters worse my date was very shy (and so was I.) We barely spoke, just danced around the floor, with my chin hovering over his head. When his father came back to pick us up we rode silently in the back of the car, he let me out of the car and said goodnight. I think that's the most we talked all evening. All I could think was "If this is what dating is like, I'm never going to date." I decided I'd rather be a wallflower than feel like a giant.

A few months later a tall, handsome boy with beautiful blue eyes changed my mind about dating, but I never had to worry about feeling like a giant again. Everyone else grew, even my first date, but I didn't grow another inch.