Do One Thing Every Day That Scares Your Family

I got the dishtowel pictured from a dear friend for a present last year and it struck a chord with me. I can't say I've done one thing every day that scares my family, but I must admit I have a pretty good track record of making a few major life decisions that scared the total sh*t out them. For example, I was the first one in my family to go "away" to college. I was the first woman in my family to move out of the Ohio family nest to go to Florida, to live with a guy I had only seen in person 16 days. (Traditional Italian families like mine, do not allow the woman to leave the home until she is betrothed.) I was also the first woman in my family who didn't invite the ENTIRE family to my wedding. My extended family at the time, was around 300 people, and the venue I chose only held 125. Not inviting 175 members of your family to your wedding, even if you've never met them, is an Italian family offense that rivals "original sin." Thank goodness I'm only 1/2 Italian so that decision didn't affect me nearly as bad as my mother, who took the brunt of that decision being 100% Italian. Mind you - these are all decisions I made prior to 2000. The rest of those decisions appear after I've had a few drinks.

It's safe to say I've done a bunch of things that scared the heck out of my family. But when I saw an opportunity to take a fire class for dancers and hula hoopers, I couldn't resist.

I have been fascinated with fire dancing ever since I saw a woman hula hoop with fire 10 years ago at a clothing optional resort in Mexico (yet another decision that would have scared my family, had I actually told them). I remember the hula hooper had flames tattooed on her sides, and how quickly the fire spun around that tattoo. It never occurred to me that I'd be trying it myself a decade later!

After a quick overview of fire safety and how to safely light and douse poi, hula hoops, swords, and fire fans, each of us got to try dancing or twirling with fire. With my curves, I have never gotten the hang of hula hooping as the hoop. My hoop seems to get tripped up over one of my curves followed by a sudden attack of gravity, so no video of me slow roasting myself over an open hula fire will. I opted for the fire fans and the fire poi instead. The heat was intense! I had a great time and highly recommend Hoola Monsters. Video is attached, with "action movie" music to make me seem more of a bad ass fire dancer than I really am. Enjoy! ~Traci