Dancing at Lughnasa

Oh, you know, you hear these stories

In the theater

About women

Catty troublemakers

Who live to tear each other down

And I’ve met women like that

I won’t say that I haven’t

But I’ll also say that

Some of the best friends I have

Are the women

I’ve done shows with

It’s a sisterhood, you know?

At the end of 1997

We were doing Dancing at Lughnasa

At the Orpheus

And every night

After rehearsal

We’d really go out dancing

I mean dancing, dancing

Oh God, I hated it at first

I’m not an exhibitionist

Who knows why I got involved

In the theater

But it wasn’t to show off

And the girls were always trying to get me

To talk to this guy or that guy

And I just wasn’t interested

Everyone in the cast was so bold

So much more bolder than I was

Then finally, one night

This guy comes up to me

And says ‘You wanna dance?’

And I say, ‘Okay, sure’

And we dance

And, uh…

Haha he was cute

I’ll give him that

He was really cute

And I got his number

And we…

Well, the short story is

We’re still together

Thanks very much

The better story is—

That night, the girls and I

Walked back to my place

And we stayed up

All night

Eating whatever was in my fridge

And laughing

And crying about a few things

And then laughing some more

We said we’d do one of those blood pacts

Where we’d prick our thumbs

And swear allegiance forever

But I faint at the sight of blood

So we used nail polish instead

And I think it worked just as well

I’m sure you’re going to hear stories

About what this one did to that one

Or that one to this one

But just know this—

The good times outweighed the bad times

They really did

I look down at my thumb

And still see that red fingernail polish there

Reminding me that I have sisters out there

And that a little bit of dancing

Goes a long way