A Matter of Trust
Shari Scales Finnell and Tony Crosby do the mambo at the Indiana Roof Ballroom.
Trust is a funny thing.
There have been too many times to count where I simply put my trust in others without hesitation. Twice, I went under the knife without much trepidation. You’re going to cut me open? Where? OK.
I have fallen out of a plane at 15,000 feet – trusting that a parachute and a stranger attached to my back by way of a contraption – would somehow get me on the ground safely.
I have placed my hair in the hands of a friend – one without nary a license – to practice her haircutting skills on my head. The baseball cap I had to wear the following day gave me a bit of time to reflect on the consequences of being so trusting.
Apparently, I didn’t learn my lesson.
A few months ago, my co-worker Lindsay Eichelman, who possesses one of the most adorable smiles of anyone I know, popped into my office to ask whether I would volunteer to perform in an Indy version of Dancing with the Stars. She explained it was a fundraiser for the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.
A couple of minutes later, I heard myself saying, “Sure. Sounds like fun.”
However, when I showed up at the Arthur Murray studio in Greenwood weeks later to meet my instructor and dance partner Tony Crosby, it dawned on me that even I had some limits in my capacity to trust – especially when he told me we would be doing the mambo. Huh? You want me to shake my what? In front of how many people?
When he played a CD of our music – which possessed a frenetic Latin tempo – my doubts about doing this thing multiplied. Just about everyone who knows me can attest to my ability to do a dozen things at once – if I’m sitting down. Moving my arms and legs in tune to a funky beat is not one of my strengths.
Tony was reassuring. With every goof and every moment of success, he taught me to trust him to get me through it. The night of the performance, new worries cropped up. Now I had to dance and smile in a glittery dress under the glare of spotlights.
Though I made a few mistakes that hopefully went unnoticed, the lessons on trust stuck like glue. As he promised, Tony navigated me through the routine – making me look 10 times better than I ever would have on my own.
We were rewarded with three scores of 8.
Not bad.
But, for me, the biggest reward came from one of the three judges when he commented, “It seems you really trust your partner.”
Thanks, Tony.
You helped me dance my way to an entirely new level of trust.
