Last week, I had a 36-hour period with so much activity that I could probably fill up ten stories.  I’m not going to fill up ten stories; I’m not, I swear.  I’ll write this one and maybe one more and move on.  Probably.

On Tuesday, Kyle performed at Dancing For Special Stars.  As you know, Dancing For Special Stars is the annual fundraiser for Special Olympics Grand Forks in which local celebrities (“celebrities”) are paired up with local dancers for an evening of spectacle, fundraising, and friendly (“friendly”) competition.  Kyle was un célébrité de la soirée.  I, our nine-year-old, our friends, and a few thousand other people were the audience.

The doors for Dancing For Special Stars opened two hours early to accommodate the size of the crowd and the ancillary fundraising exercises – Silent auction!  Wine!  Most likely other stuff that I didn’t see! – but Nine and I didn’t arrive until the last possible moment because we were across town at his chorus concert and came in hot, very hot.

“I need a cooking pot for the chorus concert,” Nine said as we were preparing to head out of the house for his concert.

“Dad went to your school concert this afternoon and didn’t say anything about a pot,” I said.

“I forgot it this afternoon,” Nine said.

“Fine,” I said.

The chorus concert was a joint production of the fourth and fifth graders and comprised of seven songs.  One of the songs incorporated some hand gestures, and Nine’s gym teacher pulled me aside and gave me a head’s up that Nine rocked the hand gestures in the afternoon.  Nine also ROCKED the hand gestures in the evening performance; at the song’s conclusion, he looked straight at me and winked.

Also, there was a song where the kids banged on the aforementioned pots with drumsticks.  I’m not sure I need to say anything else about that.

After the concert, we hustled our way to Dancing for the Special Stars.  We parked a million miles away, speedwalked into the auditorium, got a drink (wine for me, Sprite for Nine), and sat down in the seats our friends had held for us.  Then I picked up my phone and texted Kyle.

“Good luck; you’re the best; I’m so proud of you!”  I wrote, which is a straight-up lie because I didn’t write that one single bit.

“Remember to smile when you dance,” I texted for real.

“I’m practicing,” Kyle responded.

The show kicked off with the Central High School Drumline and a performance by the previous year’s winners.  What the previous celebrity lacked in skill he made up for in enthusiasm and LED lights strung across the seams of his suit.  That whole business made me nervous for two reasons: One, I wasn’t confident Kyle would listen to me about the smiling thing.  Two, Kyle’s costume was a green velvet jacket and black pants with nary a LED light to be seen.  While the winner of the competition was decided by the amount fundraised and not actual dance skill, I knew Kyle’s idea of winning was…well, it was winning a trophy…but also being the zazziest performance of the night.

Kyle was the eighth celebrity to perform.  Of the first seven, the vast majority wore sequins or used props.  One couple shot fake dollar bills out of cannons.  Another had a large audience contingent who cheered throughout his performance AND he and his partner wore sequins.

Nine cheered loudly through every dance.  Early on, he realized that if he started clapping everyone around him would do the same, so he was often the one getting the crowd going at the start of each dance.

“You’re doing a very good job,” I whispered to him.  “But take it down a notch and save your big cheers for Dad.”

“But all of the dancers are the BEST,” he whispered back.

“Yes,” I whispered back, even though that wasn’t what I wanted to say.

I texted our friends.

“We have to cheer louder than everyone else,” I said, which is a summary of what I wrote because I actually texted something a little less nice that I don’t think I should share with polite company.

“On it,” they wrote back.

Finally, it was Kyle’s turn.  He was AWESOME and smiled 25% of the time, which is basically the whole time.  The velvet jacket looked great.  He and his partner danced to “Dancing Through Life” from Wicked and she wore hot pink and also looked great.  Most importantly, our friend group cheered so loudly throughout the entire thing that I’ve seen several Facebook videos from various spots around the auditorium and you can hear us in every one.  Our friends are all hockey people and so one of the husbands yelled, “Let’s go Blue!” (which is what he would yell during the hockey season) and Kyle started laughing on stage, so win-win.

In my opinion, Kyle was the best dancer and had the best crowd and was the best fundraiser at the event.  He did not actually win the event, however, which has been a sore spot for the past week – so much so that I think he would do it next year (or even next week) if he could.  Alas, he can’t; they get new dancers every year because Grand Forks wouldn’t be able to handle Kyle Kosior in sequins with a money cannon and a cooking pot.

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The photo above was taken by Kerry Ring on behalf of Special Olympics Grand Forks.

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This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Marissa West, my Nice Person of the Week, as well as an upcoming fundraiser (more like a “fun” raiser!) for Special Olympics Minot. (Valley News Live)

This is my kind of news. (Valley News Live)

It’s Honor Flight time! (Facebook)  Speaking of, Daniel Conway wasn’t able to make this trip, so they brought him along anyways. (Valley News Live)

This is the amazing story of Devils Lake’s Gauge Driessen, who is back on the baseball field (on his own two legs!) after being temporarily paralyzed in a skiing accident. (Devils Lake Journal)

For the second year, Bismarck Public Schools is offering inclusive track. (KFYR TV)

In honor of the annual anniversary of the Flood of 97, here is an Emmy Award-nominated documentary on what went down (or up). (YouTube)

Can you guess North Dakota’s favorite book genre?  If you said “horror,” you’re right. (KX Net)

The 69th Bomb Squadron at the Minot Air Force Base has been awarded the Best Overall Bomber Squadron in the U.S. Air Force. (Minot Daily News)

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