A friend of mine, Jim Rathbun, paid me a supreme compliment. He referred to me as, “A tech goddess who pole dances. . . .A geek’s dream.”

What a image. A 67-year-old lady doing a pole dance with friends. Yes, I’m guilty. It was last year (August 2008.) We were at a festival in Midland, MI. Things had gotten too intense so I tried to think of something fun. Another campsite had created a wonderland with tiny Christmas tree lights. We tried to enhance our area with all the Christmas lights and hanging decorations we could find, but by comparison, ours looked tacky.

The canopy (20 x 20) was supported with nine aluminum poles. We (a bunch of us in a crazy mood) decided to put on a pole dance. None of us knew what we were doing but we enlisted two good dulcimer players to belt out “Night Train.” We grabbed our respective poles and did what we considered to be “dirty dancing.” It was laughable. All of us are over-the-hill. None showed any true talent nor aptitude.

I took the pole next to a tree which had a huge “hill” at the base of the tree. It was all I could do to keep my balance.

Actually within the group, two of the ladies made it memorable. Gail Schwandt is a total extrovert so that made for a showy display. And the youngest of the members, while wearing a face mask really got going. Her name: Rochelle DeAnda. I think she felt she’d never be discovered, so she did “moves” none of the rest of us would even consider.

Oh, and also Gwyn Besner showed talents we didn’t know she had.

So it was fun. Silly but fun. It made us laugh and will forever be part of our “memories.”

Probably, as the years go by our memories will enhance our performances and in a few years, we’ll be described as fantastic. Unfortunately it’s too soon now. I know we were bad!