Today was our county’s Buddy Walk. I organized a Zumba demo for it to help promote our upcoming Zumba fundraising party. Two of the instructors that will be teaching at the party came and we performed for the crowd while they ate lunch.

Some things I learned about organizing a demo.

1) Things may be totally different from what the organizers told you to expect. Plan to improvise.

2) When making a hand-painted banner use a ruler to measure and outline your words before you start painting. That blasted banner took me two hours to make, but it was better because I measured first.

3) Elmer’s makes a really nifty product called Squeeze ‘n Brush where you squeeze the bottle and paint comes out the brush. So you just squeeze ‘n brush. Like the name says.

4) Those Squeeze ‘n Brush paint bottle run out fast. But they are really fun to use. And totally washable.

The demo was good. We danced on the grass in the middle of the crowd as they ate lunch. A few brave kids jumped right in and grooved alongside us. We met some great people and passed around bunches of flyers.

Here’s the best part, completely unrelated to the demo:

Just before the demo started two ladies walked up to me and said, “Is this Wesley?”

I said, “Yes,” and they asked me if I remembered them. I stared at them dumbly for a few second but still drew a complete blank.

Turns out–get this–they were two of Wesley’s nurses when he was born. Paula helped deliver him, and Tamara was there a lot during Wesley’s twelve days in the NICU. They came over because they recognized him. AND they remembered his NICU nickname: Squeaker (because of his squeaky little cry).

Wesley hung out with them while we did our demo. I was so happy to see them again. It was probably one of the best parts of the day.

The other best part was the balloon Wes got at the Buddy Walk.

The only other balloon Wesley’s ever had was at his birthday a couple of weeks ago, and he wouldn’t go near it. It scared him.

For whatever reason, Wes is really into balloons now! He talked to it while he pulled it all over the house.