Last weekend when I was dancing after some hard stuff, I had no idea that Chris had chosen “Shall we Dance?” for our Spiritual Thursday theme this week. There’s a group of bloggers who have been dedicated to Spiritual Thursday and take turns hosting the links on our blogs. We typically post on the first Thursday of the month, but life has been happening at full speed and I had not slowed down enough to notice this is it.
However coincidentally or maybe God, the universe, were speaking to me last Saturday at Festival Internationale. My husband Jeff and I met up with our girls and their families late afternoon at the free music festival. There was one band Jeff and I wanted to see, so we broke away from our family and joined the Cajun music tent. The weather turned cold after a morning front had moved through. The wind picked up to gusts that sent my dress flying. We danced and danced and danced…to every song Bonsoir, Catin played.
We find such joy in the mix of people in the tent. The band is an all girl band who have been playing together in some mixture of women Cajun artists for 20 years. They chose their name from a traditionally Cajun term that means something close to “Good evening, baby doll.” They have taken it to mean Cajun Girl Power. While Jeff and I were dancing, I wrote a poem in my head. It was a little while before I could get to paper, so this is a rough draft, but this is how I felt Saturday night.
Festival Dancing
In the Bonsoir Catin tent,
Festival feet are two-steppin’
All the girls are playin’
fiddle
bass
accordion
acoustic and electric guitar.The parking lot is full.
We bump backs,
step on toes,
twirl and lose a hat.Cares tossed to the wind
that blows in a hurricane swirl
lifting my dress.He tells me “You are light tonight.”
Margaret Simon, draft
as we dance, dance, dance.
Reflections on the Teche 