There’s nothing quite like a Powwow to help bring you back on track inside your own head – Especially when you go to two of them in the space of three days, both social ones.

The second one, George Mason University’s Veteran’s Day powwow, is going to be one of the “memorable” ones.

After two years of effort and work, and with the help of 10+ pounds of steel, I finally got to dance standing up (Well, dancing if you use a rather loose interpretation of “dancing”).

It was kind of funny to see the expressions on people’s faces, who are used to seeing me being 4′ tall (all people in wheelchairs are 4′ tall) as they got to see that I’m still 6′2″ tall when vertical

I’m kind of paying the price for being slightly … umm … stubborn, I may have pushed the envelope just a tad.  But it was certainly worth it – especially when I realized I was the tallest person in the circle all but one time (a drummer from Black Bear is only slightly taller than I am ).

But it was more than worth it.

Now I have to start re-interpreting the dances again though.  It was stubbornness at the idea that wheels meant I couldn’t dance in the arena that led me to try to come up with analogs in the chair.

If I keep working on building up stamina and strength enough to do more than one circuit of the arena before needing to sit again using the legs (that 10+ pounds of steel), that same stubbornness will help me rethink the dances again – it’s hard to sway and bounce using your knees and ankles when they’re locked into a solid straight line

But I have a feeling the same community spirit that helped me develop analogs in the chair will come forwards again, and people will come up with suggestions and helpful ideas on how to do it.

And on the subject of which, special gratitude goes to Rie, who had no idea what I planned until she saw me get up to tower over her, and responded to my plaintive “I need a crash course in dancing standing up so I don’t look like an idiot” request so readily

Also kudos to tainee for not letting me postpone the whole idea for another year as we got ready that morning

Of course, now I have a perfect excuse to get started on making new regalia – all my old dresses were designed to be used in my chair, and look daft if worn when vertical

Hopefully I can download the pictures from this weekend to my computer soon, and we can get them cleaned up and online – only, as usual, don’t expect any of them to feature me … I have a reputation to live down to, y’know!