Last night we had our 4th annual Triple D tonight…  Daddy Daughter Dance.  When we arrived in Honduras several years ago, Juliet, then 6, was very disappointed that we would no longer be able to attend the event in our home town of Selah, WA.  In response, we decided to bring the boogie to the jungle…

If you want to see how we do it, Consider spending the next 2 minutes and 56 seconds riding the Jungle Soul Train.  But only if you are in a mood to get funk-ay.  Thanks for that, 1974…

My feelings about this dance are best expressed by Michael Meyers, in ‘So I married an Axe Murderer,’ which is really a classic to consider for your viewing pleasure.

So, here’s the scene:  we gather all the missionary girls together, as well as some of the girls from the Sanctuary House (orphanage) outside in the cul-de-sac, and we do some dancing, some eating of cake, and we consume dangerously excessive amounts of carbonated water mixed with high-fructose corn syrup (insulin shots are administered to all the children after the event).  It’s a hoot.

As a dad, I mentally prepare myself for running the gauntlet of sweat and shame.  My efforts, however, are rewarded by the perma-grin plastered to Juliet’s face for the entire night.  It’s well worth any humiliation I suffer, as I slip my 2 front teeth into proper “white man overbite” position.  Let’s face it, am I a good dancer?  No.  Luckily, I’m better than most of the other dads here (sorry guys, I call it like I see it…).  Am I in good shape?  Reasonably.  But mix an hour and a half of jumping, running, hopping, twirling, and swinging my daughter around in a circle, in 89 degree/94% humidity conditions, and it’s no wonder that my hands were actually pruned at the end of the night from the moisture freely gurgling from my pours.  I might as well have jumped in the sea, as that is how wet I was by the end of the night.

One of the fun caveats of the dance, is that every Dad is required to make his daughter a corsage from scratch.  After 4 years, I have this down to a science.  The jungle is a veritable cornucopia of materials.  But I’m not gonna lie, there have been some sorry offerings out there over the years…(I’m calling you out, Como!)

I went with a white Lilly (Juliet’s favorite)/purple Bougainvillea combo, with a sprig of green succulent;  Classy but not overstated.  Then, mixed in a smidge of duct-tape to add that red-neck touch.  Nailed it.

Yes, we played Butterfly kisses…

Photo of the Day:

Will and Heidi got in on the action as well.  Also, some of the girls decided to make one of those ‘girls in a circle dancing thingys’, where they dance in a girl-circle.  That was all of us dad’s chance to rest for a bit, and sweat.

Ciao!