Middle School Dance!!!




   

              Chester, waiting outside Melissa's school for his FIRST dance!

 

Friday night, Chester attended his very first DANCE.  He was invited by his best buddy, Melissa. Her class was hosting a Middle School Dance Fundraiser for his Big Dog friends, the UDS Dogs, assistance pups in training.  Melissa asked Chester to be her companion.  He was paws-itively ecstatic and thrilled.



Doggies and Students....getting pre-dance-hosting instructions!



The dance was a great success.  Lots of kids, dogs, and FUN.   Chester had a blast with his cute date. He greeted people. He danced. He got his picture taken a kazillion times. He hung out at the snack table. He went EVERYWHERE with Melissa, proud to prance by her side.

 

A couple of dog-gone memorable moments....besides the snack table...

At one point, Chester told Melissa "I have to go."  We took him outside to the grass. We let him run around a bit in a fenced in area. I gave him the command, "Go Now!" She gave him the command, "Go Now!" He rolled in the freshly-mown grass.  He romped. He smiled. He sniffed.  He raced.  He did everything but "go now."  Melissa thought this was hilarious.  I rolled my eyes. A friend of Melissa's who was watching said, "Melissa, I've never seen you laugh like this!"  I thought... hmmm, we do this every week during PT at Schrieber...this IS Melissa and Chester. Always.

Well, after not-going we went back inside for more fun, then, a tour of the school. One of our stops was the Biology Room. I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this or not... but... I will, our tour guide took the BIG white rat out of the cage ;-) .  He carried the creepy rodent (rats with beady pink eyes and looooong naked tails are not my favorite creature on planet earth)  to show Melissa and me...and Chester, up close.  I was not sure if this was a good idea or not.  Rats look sort of  like squirrels, if you catch my drift.

Well, the rat got a little frisky and started nibbling on our tour guide, who was fumbling to hold on to this critter -- .  I was thinking, hmm, this could be very interesting. Biology room, slippery floor, rat running free, Chester.  I started laughing. Melissa started laughing.  We could not stop.  Chester was salivating.

To make a long story shorter.......and less exciting than it could have been.... our tour guide got control of Mr. Rat and put him back in his cage.  In the meantime, I tried to drive Melissa's chair out of the Biology lab, crowded with classroom furniture.  We were stuck.  I was flunking wheel chair driving 101 ....  Imagine bumper-cars.  Poor Melissa, I kept running her chair, and her cute tennies, into tables and chairs and cabinets. I continually apologized, "oops, sorry Meliss....uh, sorry.... you OK?...uh, didn't mean to do that...is your foot OK?"  To which all I could hear was laughter.  Thankfully. I love Melissa's laughter (and patience with crazy drivers).  And Chester, well he was wedged in there somewhere, praying he could get another chance with white squirrel.

Eventually, and miraculously, we did bump our way out of the Biology Lab....with our sides and faces aching from laughter.

At the end of our evening, I told Melissa, it was the best Middle School Dance I had been to in my entire life.  And that is the truth.  Chester agreed it was a fairy-tail evening.

Oh....and the cherry on top.  Well, when Mom and Dad came to pick up their Melissa, they brought their dog, Rufus, a big-ole chocolate Lab who made Chester look small.  What a hunk of chocolate LOVE.  Though Chester has been waiting to meet the dog he has heard so much about, initially he let it be known he was not especially thrilled to shake paws with this Chocolate Big Boy. Either he was a weee bit jealous or self-conscious about how he looked in his yellow vest, hard to tell???  Regardless, when I took his vest off,  he went from working mode to play mode,  & fully enjoyed romping and wrestling with Melissa's dog, Rufus.  They were buds.



Rufus, Melissa, and Chester



What a dazzling day~~ Bus ride (see previous post) AND Dance....all in the same day.  When we drove into the driveway, Chester was snoozin' and my face still hurt from laughing ~~ dog-gone wonderful!



The Bus Ride

Chester, checkin' for squirrels.

Fridays is our day to visit and share tail wags with our friends on the Alzheimer's floor at a nearby retirement community. This past Friday,  rather than visit inside, we joined a handful of men and women on a bus ride, over the meadow and through the woods.

Oh my.  Never have I had so much fun on a bus!

It was a gorgeous day, bright blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds, the fields  lush and green,  trees laden with lavender, white, pink blossoms.  The perfect day for a ride through Amish Farm Country.

Riding in a small van like bus over hill and dale is an adventure. No matter how slow you go, or how careful you take the turns, it is bounce, bounce, BOUNCY, when you are in the back.

One dear woman, grinned and held on for dear life....her constant comment, with every turn we took, was "eeeee Gods.....eeee Gods!"  It was like background music.

I pointed out cows and horses, Amish clotheslines heavy with clothes whipping in the wind, teams of mules tilling the soil for spring planting, tulips and daffodils.  Our eight bouncing passengers looked at the sights, to the sound of "eeee Gods, eeee Gods" with every hill and bend in the road.

Chester swayed to the turns and bumps. Each time I told him "hang on", he braced for another curve.

Towards the end of our journey, we hit quite a bump....and from front to back, heads bobbed up and down, ...picture ~~ the people on the bus go up and down up and down up and down.  And then I heard, "Whoa, I left my ass in that hole!"   I turned and saw a smiling grey-haired gentle-man.....with a twinkle in his eye, holding on tightly to the seat in front of him.

Ohmy, I started giggling and could not stop.

The bus driver looked in her rear view mirror and said, "That's Frank (name changed).  You just gotta love Frank, he always tells it like it is!"  "Frank, tell Diane and Chester who you are, about your mom and dad!"  She whispered to me that Frank's Mom was Portuguese and his Dad was Norwegian.  I thought, what a grand combo of cultures blended into one sweet-spunky man.

Chester and I turned to face grinning Frank.  "Frank, tell us who you are!"

"FRANK!" Frank replied.  Head bobbing up and down and swaying with the bus ride. 

I smiled, Chester did too. "Good to meet you, Frank!  Tell me about your parents, and your heritage, what do you call yourself!"

Shouting and Beaming, "Oh, I'm Portu-wegian!!! My Mom was Portuguese, and my Dad, he was Norwegian, I'm Portu-wegian!" 

I smiled back at him, "Frank, I've never me a Portu-wegian before!"

Frank's eyebrows rose, and his face lit up with a surprised expression that said,  NO WAY! , then he proudly proclaimed, " Well, .... I'm Portu-wegian!" 

I could not stop laughing.

Frank beamed.  His innocence, smile, and humor, brought joy to my soul.

Chester shook his head and braced for another turn.

Over the meadow and through the woods...
"eee Gods"... laughter is good for the soul.