A Multi-Stake Single's Dance Experience, Anyone? . . .

Alright . . . so I debated very much whether to tell this tid-bit or not but I decided to go for it because thinking back on it makes me cringe at some moments and so I thought it might be fun to share (it will especially make all you married people extremely lucky that you have found someone and don't have to endure the harsh realities of awkwardness - otherwise known as "putting yourself out there" haha). Anyway, I attended a multi-stake single;s dance last weekend. Yea, that's right - I said multi-stake single's dance. I totally hate dances but especially the stake ones that feel like you are back in the 7th grade and only like 30 people out of possibly hundreds decide to show - that was last Saturday night for me. I did however, make myself a promise that I wouldn't leave until I had talked to 5 people I had never met and so just like with missionary contacts(you have to talk to 20 new people a day as a companionship and let's just say that that wasn't my favorite part - awkward and scary are the two words that come to mind) I knew I had to complete my goal. So . . . I went in and my worst fears were confirmed - it was just like I had imagined, except that it seemed worse given the "Fiesta" theme with some people opting to wear Mexican sombreros. At that point I knew I had a long night ahead of me. They had tables set up over half of the gym because it was a dinner as well - I just came too late for that part. There were exactly 4 people from my new ward there and 3 of them I had talked to before, but I know they don't really have an interest in being "best buds" with me, so weighing that with the fact that I knew no one else there I went with the decidedly less awkward option and I went to their table. I sat down and they said hello and they just continued on with their interesting conversation, why I sat wondering what in the WORLD I was doing there. Then a nice kid named John came and sat down by us and was wearing one of those not so great sombreros. After talking to him I realized that he was a great kid but was developmentally slow and so being my age was really like a little kid. We talked about a few things and then out of the blue he asked me to dance. Of course I said yes, but the awkwardness sunk in as he was shorter than me and we danced "slow dance" style to a not so slow dance. Haha, we were the only one's that were slow dancing and there were about 10 other people on the dance floor and they of course were not slow dancing due to the fact that you didn't slow dance to that sort of song. Well - it was a prime moment and I have to tell you that it will go down in history as one of my "Mia classic awkward moments". So, by that time, I was up to 3 new people and ready to get the last 2 out of the way and get the heck out of there. I had noticed a kid when I was coming in that was speaking Spanish outside and I saw him kind of standing by the dance floor alone. He is about 6 inches taller than me and kind of cute and so I decided to make my way over and introduce myself. I was so stinking nervous but proud of myself that I did it. I went over and introduced myself and asked about his Spanish and such. While we were talking they started ChaCha Dancing lessons and he invited me to join him to learn how. It was fun and we ended up dancing the chacha after that. After we danced I left for a minute and then came back and sat down with my ward people. He saw me and came over and we chatted, and then we ended up dancing a few more times that night. It was fun, even though the setting was totally awkward. So . . . it ended not so bad but I really do have to say that I envy all of you that have found that person to be with forever because I'm not so sure how many more nights like that I can take:). There has got to be an easier way . . . .