demo week

You know those days when you feel your mortality? you can feel that you're getting older, can't stay out as late, can't jump as high, run as fast, remember a name etc. I feel this almost daily as I look myself in the mirror and see the slow but unmistakable transition I am going through to become Frank (my dad). My forehead is getting bigger and my "yeaah gang" face is becoming more prominent. As I write this I am sitting in a dance class being run by another teacher. It's demo week which basically means that this is the one class a year that the parents and grandparents and whoever else who wants to come watch gets to come and watch in the front of the room and smile and watch and take photos. Today I feel my age! back in my day demo week featured me wearing some very bright, and noticeably tight, biking spandex shorts and these were the classes that had the pictures taken of which I still get to see. The biggest difference in demo week from when I did it to when these kids are doing it? when it was my demo week my dad would lug out the camcorder (which was the size of a small suitcase), set up the tripod, and then hook it up to the VCR so that it recorded!. he brought all of this to dance class and took up a small area of the room. by todays standards he would look like he was doing a national broadcast for monday night football! There is a grandmother sitting next to me who is filming her grand daughters ballet class on an iphone. grandmas is smiling, the child is gesturing over to her and trying to get noticed by teacher. Yes, I feel my age and see huge differences in technology but the experience of demo week seems to be fully intact and alive. why couldn't you just have used an iphone dad?