I taught someone how to dance at a ribbon cutting

Written 9/4/2025.

One of the duties of an Ambassador for the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce is to attend ribbon cuttings. This is for both new businesses and businesses who had something significant happen.

Tonight, it was for the total refurbishment of the Fairfield by Marriott in Naperville. The sky was a crystal blue with puffy white clouds with the temperature hovering around 65 degrees. Just enough for me to wear my leather jacket and custom cowboy hat (you can see me in the above picture).

I know almost everyone as I’ve been doing these for 20 years. The mayor comes out and speaks, then the representatives for the business, then they provide some food. Usually, it’s a snack tray you can pick up at the local grocery store, but as this was Marriot, holy crap did they have a spread. Giordano’s deep-dish pizza, jimmy johns, crumble cookies, special cheese rolls, cups of crispy bacon. Oh, and a live guitarist who was awesome.

Needless to say, this was my dinner.

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I got to chatting with two other friends about our experiences on the FB Dating app. R actually has a date on Saturday with a goth comedian (she’s totally into goth guys). They’ve been texting for 2 months, and this is their first time meeting. I mentioned my positive experiences on the app. S is looking but isn’t on any apps. She connected with one guy, and we chatted about best strategies to meet up with him again.

The world is so strange when it comes to dating nowadays. Gone are the days when a guy could just ask a person out with no ramifications. Now if approached and the person doesn’t take an interest in the guy, they will admonish him for being a creep. That’s one reason why dating apps seem to help. At least the people are there to actually DATE someone.

I invited both of them out to West Coast Wednesdays (R has heard my spiel before). I think they will both eventually come. S has wanted to learn how to dance having moved to Naperville from another state, she is looking for fun things to do.

She didn’t know the dance style West Coast Swing (nor would I expect her to). I said, “would you like me to show you?” She said yes. In the space of 5 minutes, I gave her the initial three patterns. The basic sugar-push, left-side pass, and right-side pass.

We did it to music and she did great.

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Yes, this was after the ribbon cutting where the food and music was located in a room full of people.

If you see me and want me to teach you the same thing, let me know.

Life is about enjoying these small moments. No matter how strange it may seem for someone looking from the outside.

What do you do that brings you joy?

I love you,

Robert

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