Left Behind

When I was in high school, I was on the dance team. Mike makes constant fun of me and always tells me that he believes I was a huge dork in high school. I insist to him that making good grades and not partaking in drugs and alcohol WAS actually cool in my high school, but he doesn't believe. Mike also does not believe that the dance team was cool. Apparently, he went to a high school where sex and drugs and rock and roll were cool. At my school, I swear, I was awesome.

But arguing my coolness is beside the point. The point is to tell you about our trip to Ireland and how I got stranded in the London airport while 250 people flew safely across the Atlantic back to Homewood, AL. In 1997, tragedy struck. My dance team was preparing to go to dance camp (that really doesn't sound cool) and we were practicing our routine. As I launched myself into the the best toe touch ever, I came down and fell to the floor. As I tried to get up, I realized that my leg was not supporting me anymore. Panic. People were dancing around me and techno music was playing and I couldn't move. I crawled over the wall and someone called my mom. We found out that afternoon that I had torn my ACL.

If you know anything about football or soccer, you have probably heard of this injury. Not so much if you are on the DANCE TEAM. But, we scheduled my surgery and for six weeks I was in physical therapy and walking around with this ridiculously huge brace on my leg. The plus side was that I got to leave class five minutes early so that people would not knock me down during the changing of classes. (That also does not sound cool. I promise that people were not intentionally trying to knock me down.)

Alright, that is the background. Now, each year, the dance team (who is affiliated with the band) gets to go on a trip. There is always one international trip in the term that you are in school, and our trip was to Ireland. Of course, this trip fell during the time I was still wearing my awesome leg brace. I watched for months as my friends prepared for the trip, and was actually interviewed by the news during one of the practices about how I felt not being able to perform on the trip. Interestingly, that piece never aired...

Once the time came, we boarded the plane and headed for Ireland. After at least a week there, everyone was ready to come home. Yes, the scenery there is gorgeous, and I would love to go back, but in a different setting. When you are stuck on a bus, sightseeing what other people have planned for you, things get a little sticky. We got to kiss the Blarney Stone and explore old castles (remember, I am still in my leg brace) but after seven days of eating green soup, everyone was missing their mommas. It was time to go. We boarded a plane from Dublin and made our first stop in London.

Another one of the girls on the dance team had also injured herself, and someone decided the best thing would be for us to get on one of those beep beep carts for the elderly so we wouldn't miss our plane. 15 minutes later, I watched as the plane took off with all my friends in it. With as many people that were on the plane, everyone thought I was there, somewhere, and didn't recognize that I was still sitting in the airport. Thank goodness our dance teacher's husband realized what was going on and decided to stay with us. Apparently, DELTA had given up our seats because we did not check in in time.

Receiving a collect call from their sobbing, oldest daughter in London was not what my parents were expecting when they picked up the phone. While he held it together, I think my dad was just as upset as I was. DELTA ended up paying for a night in a not so awesome hotel, and the next day, my teacher's husband and the two cripples arrived very early at the airpot. We made it home and my best friend said, "There were so many people on the plane, we all just figured you were talking to someone else." None of the students knew that we had missed the flight until their parents told them when they landed in Birmingham. This does not make me feel confident in my sparkling personality.

Looking back on this experience, all I have is a distain for London. This was not London's fault, but I was so ready to be home. My knee is better, and I was able to dance again my senior year. I guess the sacrifice of being stuck in London was all just a price to pay for being cool.