Okay, first of all I am  putting my girlfriends back home on notice – at least one of you need to be prepared to go dancing with me when I return to the northern hemisphere.  My bets are on my friends Alexa and Linda, lets see if they are up to the challenge 🙂

Now to last night and this morning because it really was all the same thing.  The original plan for the evening was to meet and go to the new Tyler Perry movie (note: if you haven’t seen it don’t go!) and have a drink after. As the week progressed we got a tip on a great new spot to dance the night away from 11:30 onwards. Since it has been a couple of weekends since we have had a good dance outing there was simply no way to resist.

So the night started off with Buche delivering me to Riverwalk Mall where we were meeting up pre-movie. Last night was a gorgeous full moon and as we were driving I couldn’t help but ooh and awhhh as it was so huge and low in the sky at that point. Thus prompting a serious discussion on the moon including comparisons between how it looks in different areas of Africa and Canada. Here it comes up some nights as reddish or orange but the color only lasts for about 10 minutes. Whereas in Canada, particularly the East Coast we get very colorful moons in Autumn that last all night long. The other notable difference between moons here and there is that here as the moon rises it appears smaller and smaller. Back home in Canada it never seems to rise as high in the sky as it does here and appears to remain relatively the same size through the night.

Buche’s advice was that I check it out throughout what he knew would be my long night of escapades. So just like the good girl that I am, I did at 1o:30, 11:30 and 2:30 am! He was right of course, the higher it rose the smaller it seemed. What a smart man both for knowing about the moon and Cheryl’s tendency to be out and about long into the night having fun.

And how would you know that I had fun last night?

1. I almost forgot my shoes in Tshepo’s taxi at 3:00 am – thankfully I am blessed with him and Buche in my life here. While Buche ensures that I am safe and sound on his watch, Tshepo is equally consciousness. Always when he returns me home at night after a weekend late night outing he pulls completely into my yard and insists on waiting until I have made the walk to my door. Only once I have the door opened will he let me open the gate so he can back out where he waits again to ensure that the gate is safely completely closed with no intruders before he leaves. Last night I actually got out of the car and started the walk without my shoes. (I had worn wedge heels which are not the best for dancing in but were perfect with my dress).  Luckily, I have Tshepo looking out for me and I am not sure that bright pink wedge heels would look that good on him 🙂 I am also starting to think that that African saying of “it takes a village to raise a child” actually applies to me as well. “It takes a entire African community to take care of Cheryl”
2. Those bright pink shoes once retrieved from Tshepo’s cab only made it as far as the chair on my terrace just outside my door where I found them at 5:30 am! I must have put them on the chair when I was unlocking my door and forgotten about them…what can I say it was 3:00 am. Also, I had a kitty waiting for me which also distracted me. Miss Gabby was either locked out of the main house or simply was waiting for me to finally come home so she could come in on my bed. That is why I also discovered my shoes at 5:30 am as she insisted on leaving the apartment then. Thankfully I found them before Peter did, not sure he would ever have let me live that one down.
3.  The next sign that I really had fun was the trail of clothes from my front door through my apartment. Starting with the shoes outside the door. My purse just inside the door on my new desk. My pashima at the foot of my bed. My sweater dress in the kitchen and unmentionables in the bathroom. Now my Dad can tell you I have a long history of announcing my arrival home by a trail of clothing. Often when I was young you could mark my procession through our house by following the discarded trial of apparel. Let’s just say that some traits never totally disappear no matter how old you get. Although I seldom do that any more, last night proved to be a definite reoccurrence. Thankfully I live alone….my friend Kim back home in PEI who is slightly older than me had a similar experience about a year ago. She  only made it as far as her couch and her husband came down the next morning and discovered her jeans on top of her kitchen table….thankfully I have not achieved that yet! Sorry to out you, Kim!
4. I am a very light sleeper and seldom ever sleep more than two consecutive hours at a time. Thanks to the amazing Jetske and the renovations, I now have beautiful and highly functional blinds on my windows. These blinds ensure that my rooms are sufficiently dark that I don’t automatically wake up now with the advent of dawn. Having expended so much energy dancing last night I was thankful to tumble into bed. If Miss Gabby hadn’t of woken me at 5ish to be let out I would have slept through dawn. In fact, I went back to sleep and even when somebody got the bright idea at Game City Mall to blast music at 7:oo am this morning, I simply rolled over and went back to sleep until almost 9 am.
5. And the fifth sign that I really had fun last night….my twinkle toes are so raw and sore from dancing that today is definitely a barefoot day….which is good given that recent history has proven that I would likely just forget them somewhere anyways!