*Hi, Readers! It’s my wedding anniversary today–12 years with the man who knows all of my oddities and loves me anyway. I thought this old relic of a post illustrates exactly why I adore this guy. Have a wonderful weekend!
Do we ever really see ourselves? I remember an old friend of mine, Betty, would catch a glimpse of herself in a shopping mall mirror and then stop, startled. She would look at her reflection, sigh, shake her head and exclaim, “In my head, I always think I’m way cuter than I really am. Mirrors suck.”
Mirrors do suck. Some mornings, I lurch to the bathroom, flick on the light and gasp in horror. What happened during the night to turn me into a 90-year-old prostitute? As I recall, I went to bed looking semi-okay; I mean, my husband wanted to jump me, so it must not have been that bad. But whaaaaa? Who on Earth is that Gorgon staring back at me a mere 8 hours later?
As a writer, I’m constantly scrutinizing people. If I see someone interesting, I’ll narrow my eyes, hone-in, try to absorb every nuance and facial tic. It sort of drives my husband crazy. “Quit staring,” he’ll hiss at me in public places.
When we went to Disney World–the Official Homeland of Freakshows–this spring, I thought he was going to throttle me. I couldn’t stop gawking and rubbernecking to save my life.
For someone so observant of others, I am shockingly un-self-aware. I do strange shit all the time and have no idea. Even worse, when my husband (that obnoxious lout) points out said strange shit, I have the gall to adamantly deny that I’ve done anything weird.
Yeah, I don’t know why he married me, either.
A few months after we’d been dating, my husband took me to a new restaurant. I can’t even remember the name of the place, but it was hoppin’ and full of beautiful people, and I enjoyed myself. About halfway through the meal, hubs furrowed his brow and asked, “Is your dinner okay?”
“Yeah, you want a bite?” I said.
“No, I’m good,” he said, and we continued eating.
A few minutes later, the waitress wandered into the vicinity and hubs asked, “Do you want me to flag her down? Do you want to order something else?”
“No, really, it’s fine,” I said. “Why do you think something’s wrong?”
“Well, you didn’t do the Yummy Dance. At all.”
“Huh? What do you mean, the Yummy Dance?”
“You know, that thing you do when you really like your food.”
“What thing? I don’t do anything.”
“Yeah you do. You know, this.” And he proceeded to show me an exceedingly awkward little upper-body shimmy and head-bob.
He sort of looked epileptic.
“Oh my God. Oh my God!” I was Gobsmacked. “I do not do…Oh my God. You’re right. I do do that.” If I hadn’t been so stunned, I’d have darted under the table in humiliation.
“That’s awful!” I wailed.
“No. It’s kinda cute,” he said.
“Cute? I look like I’m having a medical emergency!”
Later, after the shock dissipated, I called my mother.
“Mom, how long have I been doing this…thing?” I asked. And described the oddity that is the Yummy Dance.
“Not long dear,” she replied. “Only, like, your entire life.”
So I guess it’s settled. A habit so deeply ingrained as the Yummy Dance cannot be extinguished. It is, alas, a Trademark Move. I own it. And it only took me 30 years to learn it existed. So much for those razor-sharp powers of observation.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And BTW Happy Anniversary!!!
Happy Anniversary to YOU and YOURS! I’m sure the yummy dance is adorable and I know you are a never ending stream of wonderful amusement. You do try to amuse, right?
Smiling… :-D
Katybeth,
Even when I’m not trying, I manage to be so awkward that it’s amusing.
Happy Anniversary!!! I saw the picture of you in the red dress. O.M.G.
If I were a straight man, I’d even put up with the “Elaine dance” for the gorgeous lady in red! :-)
Absence,
Thank you! I’ve gotten a bit fatter after popping out two kids, but I did love that dress.
I love it! Bet your mother got a big kick out of watching you eat dinner all these years!
Happy anniversary!
Thanks for the repeat – I love this yummy dance post! And congratulations, you two! Happy, happy anniversary!
I love it :) and so does he :) Happy Anniversary !
Happy anniversary to you both! Hope you have a dinner worthy of the Yummy Dance!
Meaning,
It was a tapas restaurant, so there were many little Yummy Dances going on!
OK, this has nothing whatsoever to do with your anniversary, yummy dances, or tapas, but…
I was flipping through my favorite crock pot cookbook looking for a favorite recipe of ours – but despite it’s favoriteness, I couldn’t find the page. So I had to flip through page by bloody page to search. On my way, guess what popped out at me? SHIPWRECK! Right there in print.
See? That stuff was so awesome it made it into a cookbook. :)
Meaning,
Arggggggg. Say it isn’t so!
Page 113. Serves 8.
Happy anniversary! Our 12th anniversary was 9/9 – I love that we were married within the same week of the same year! xox
Lindsey,
I thought that was great, too!
Oh I loved this! Leave it your husband and mother to notice the quirks and enjoy them in silence. So sweet. Too bad kids rarely keep quiet about stuff like this. “Mooom, not that again!”
really? the yummy dance – ok, THAT’S hilarious.
Gotcha on the “staring at people” thing. My underlying reason for doing this is my interest in Psychology. Give me 10 minutes for critical observation and I have you totally diagnosed – treatment plan and all! Sometimes I’ll attend something (like the rennaisance festival) for the PURE reason of people watching.
Happy Anniversary you guys!! Happy marriages demand an enormous celebration in current times!
Dawn,
While Disney World is the Official Homeland of Freakshows, I have to give it to the Renaissance Festival. That is DAMN good people-watching.
People watching RULES! But I also get in trouble for staring. Sometimes it’s too hard not to! I guess I over do it though, given that I consider every restaurant, store, and public place in general a prime place to practice my hobby.
Happy anniversary! I hope you have meal worthy of a Yummy Dance. :)
I think this all the time.
Would I like myself if I knew me?
I would love to know.
But how can we?
Don’t you think there should be some hidden camera way of finding out? Like, could we convince our husbands to not let us know they’re secretly filming us, so we could see.
ALTHOUGH: I do know if I ever applied to myself for a job, I’d never hire me. I once saw what I look like when I work. All I do is walk around in circles.
It was awful.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.
Happy anniversary! And I’m so glad to hear that you have been doing a yummy dance all your life. I think it’s wonderful and endearing and you should own it. =)
Alexandra,
I’m pretty damn sure that you’d like yourself if you meet her.
Happy anniversary, yummy you! xo
My friend and I both do the yummy dance. We’ve even talked about it before.
Happy anniversary!
The whole paragraph about the 90 yr old prostitute cracked me up. I’ll be laughing about that every time I catch a glance of myself in the morning. How does it get that bad?
Paula,
I don’t know how it gets that bad, but boy, it sure does!
I meant to say “glimpse”.
Happy anniversary lovely! :)
Happy Anniversary and feel better.
Happy Anniversary!
My Mister is much the same, he finds the weird things I do “kinda cute”. Is that what love is?
He always knows when I’m worried because I apparently have ‘worry hands’ and clench them into tiny little fists with my thumbs in. He’ll look over at me and say, “Hey, what’re you worried about?” To which I reply: “Nothing.”
He’ll point at them, I’ll think, and then I’ll realize I am worried about something. He’s a mind reader, that one.
Happy Happy Belated Anniversary! Cheers!
(Playing catch up with my google reader)