She Couldn't Dance

We sat in the gym, her favorite singer came on, she got all excited and asked me to take her to the dance floor, but she couldn't dance.

We went back to our seats. She tried to have fun. We opened her dum dum lollipop. She took a couple licks, but that was too much too. She couldn't "eat" more.

She asked me to go up to the DJ and request her favorite song: "This is Me" from "The Greatest Showman". The song came on. She was so excited, but she couldn't dance. She admitted that she was in pain. Her chest hurt and she was exhausted. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I excused myself, ran to the hallway, trying desperately to keep her from seeing me cry. She couldn't dance. She didn't want to try to be part of the lip sync contest. She was done.

She had looked forward to this day for weeks. She had asked us a hundred times this week alone when it would be time for the fair. Ten minutes at the hat walk without oxygen and two trips through the inflatable obstacle course and she was completely spent. Nothing left. Done.

We'd done this event for five (maybe six) years. She loved it. She had taken first and second prize in the lip sync contest the last two years. Yes, it was usually a hard recovery for her, but this year, she didn't even have the energy to get prizes for her tickets.

And she couldn't dance. My dancing queen wanted to dance, but couldn't.