Starstruck

One of my new favorite television shows is Modern Family. I recently saw a bit of myself in one of the characters as he reminisces about how he and his sister had an ice skating routine and went by the name, Fire and Nice; determined to win trophies, medals, and any other glory they could. Instantly, I remembered that my sister and I had similar aspirations: we were determined to be dance contest champions.

Granted, neither one of us had any formal training, but we figured being Latinos, formal training was something we never paid attention to. It wasn’t because we felt it was beneath us, I’m sure we would have jumped at the opportunity if it was presented to us, but my sister and I had genetics on our side; our mother was in Dirty Dancing and Saturday Night Fever and our father was the Mambo King who spawned his own dance crazes involving handkerchiefs and sand.

To this day, when we have a function whether it’s a birthday or a wedding, we find a way to become the unofficial dance contest champions of the night. Basically, we look like the two cousins in My Big Fat Greek Wedding at the end of the movie, but cooler. What can I say? We both love to dance and love attention. It’s our cross to bear. My sister and I even went so far as to decide that our joint wedding present to our brother will be a wedding dance routine. Not for him and his girlfriend to dance to of course, but for us; we’ll perform at their wedding.

It isn’t just dancing that I loved since childhood, but all forms of attention grabbing behavior. Not panty-less car exiting or drunken tirades, but behavior that requires talent. On holidays as a five year old I used to do selected scenes from Gone with the Wind and that parlayed into my short lived career as the family newscaster specializing in investigative journalism and on the scene commentary. My investigative journalism consisted of hiding my tape recorder in various parts of the house and leaving it there recording to see what my family members said about me when I wasn’t there. And by on the scene commentary, I mean interviewing various family members on New Years Eve asking for their resolutions while my brother videotaped everyone.

Dinner time was a great time to have the spotlight on you in my house. We went around the table and talked about our days and what was going on in our lives. As a child, I was often left at the dinner table alone because I was still talking about my daily activities once everyone finished eating. Since this was a common occurrence, my siblings preferred to go succinctly before me. What can I say? A third grader has a lot to say. My poor mother would often feel bad for me and sit there and listen to me babble on and on well past my food’s temperature reached cold.

Much of this behavior has yet to escape my personality. To this day, I still enjoy talking and can easily carry on a conversation for two people, which I have and do, which really is just a reflection of other people’s poor communication skills and manners, but that’s another story. At a recent cousin’s wedding, my sister and I got our own spotlight dance and made our own dance floor. Perhaps I could tone down a bit, but as my friend Abigail recently told me as she read my horoscope, “You are the star of the universe.” Some stars outshine others, but eventually they all run out of gas.