I have been on a mission to go through my garage, closets, and utility room to get rid of items that need to find a new home or finally be thrown away. The problem is that I'm finding things that bring back memories and create stories that I just have to share, so my purge has been a slow process. I found items in a shoe box which led me to look for pictures, which led to this story about the memories that have had me feeling joyful and excited today.
In the shoe box labeled, Dance Shirts, I found six decorated t-shirts that were used for the dance performance by The Kids team for "The Parents vs The Kids Challenge" while we were on a family trip to Gatlinburg in 2013. We spent a day in Dollywood and saw a few other sites but most of our time was spent in the three story home that we rented. We had plenty of room and putting the kids on the bottom floor was the best decision that we made. They stayed up late every night practicing their dance routines for the challenge because they take competitions against their parents seriously then, and they still do.
We found a school close to where we were staying for the events for the first part of the challenge. There was a 100 yard dash competition and a 4x100 relay race. Several race results were questioned for various reasons: Sydney got a bad start and lost her race, so she decided that it was because she didn't hear the starter gun that everyone else heard, the over-under water race wasn't fair because their arms were shorter; and the adults protested that they should have been given a head start because of their age. They wanted to set new rules before every event and there were multiple melt-downs and claims of unfairness by both teams. It was exhausting.
After the track event we went back to the rental house for an early dinner before the second part of the competition, which was the performances. All the practicing was done in secrecy, with the kids on the lower level and the adults on the top level. I was one of the judges, along with Mama, my brother-in-law Gene, and my sister Pickle aka (Nana). We were not allowed to see any of the practices so that we would remain neutral, and we promised to not show favoritism. Both teams were skeptical that Pickle would not have a favorite, but she insisted that she would judge fairly. We settled in to enjoy the performances that are always fun and then things sorta went off the rails.
The "Dancing Divas" from the Kids Team strutted upstairs with those toes perfectly pointed with t-shirts that Judge Nana had secretly helped them design before the trip. Allegations of cheating were thrown out by the Parents Team with threats to not perform at all. Pickle sat with her hands in her lap appearing to be shocked by the cheating allegations. Once again, she promised to be fair in her judging and insisted that the program go on. "The Dancing Divas" continued their performance after things settled down and was joined by Special Guest, DJ Superhero, who electrified the room with his strange but cute dance moves. His impartial Judge Nana beamed with pride as she filled out her scorecard, fairly and impartially I'm sure. Yeah right!
The surprise costumes and allegations of cheating seemed to fire The Parents Team up. They danced, pranced, did their high-school majorette and cheerleader routines, and risked injury to build a human pyramid. Tonya almost broke the ceiling fan and injured her hand because she was so high up on that wobbly pyramid. There was a lot of flipping, splitting and kicking going on because they were working hard to overcome the cuteness factor of the other team. The Dad's even crooned a few R&B oldies for the audience trying to sway the judges.
After the last performance each judge tallied their scorecards separately and we came together to determine the final winner. Well guess what, it miraculously ended in a tie and The Parent Team demanded a recount. We each verified our totals again and it was still a tie.
A bit later, The Kids Team requested another recount because they were sure that they had won. I think that impartial Judge Nana might have put that bug in their ears. Guess who's scorecard conveniently went "missing"? If you guessed impartial Judge Nana's', you are correct. It was nowhere to be found, so the tie score stood. Neither team would accept the 2nd place trophy, which is why I still have them at my house nearly 10 years later.
Pickle was recovering from ovarian cancer surgery that she underwent a few weeks before this trip to Gatlinburg. We had planned the trip months before they discovered that the cancer had returned, but this time in her ovaries. She wanted to go even if she wasn't feeling her best and it was the last big family trip that she took. Everyone finally recovered from the cheating allegation fiasco and at least we laugh about it now. Well some of us laugh who are not sore losers.
As we talked and laughed about it today, my daughter Dawn told me that Pickle finally admitted that she cheated with the scoring, but never apologized for helping them make the cute shirts. Pickle told her, "you know I was gonna help them babies win." In 2017 she chose to begin hospice care at home and she would sit on the sofa to receive visitors who dropped by to see her the two weeks before she died. On her last Sunday afternoon when the house was full of family and friends, she asked DJ Superhero to dance for her. He danced, gyrated, pumped his fist, and tried to moonwalk. He was giving it all he had and got a standing ovation. The smile on his Nana's face that Sunday afternoon was everything.
BTW, DJ's sister Kennedi and his cousins have almost every dance routine that he did from four years old on video and are threatening to play them when he brings any love interest to meet the family. Bless his heart!!
Hope you enjoyed my story,
Marilyn
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