Day 2, Tango 2, Seattle: Two Blogs Dancing

If you read enough greeting cards, you'll find one that says "Do something you fear every day."

I fear meeting strangers, whether they be people or grizzlies or fellow drivers on the freeway. In the past few days I have braved the land of grizzlies and Seattle traffic. I should feel invincible.

My stomach, as usual, tells me I don't. It is leaping and twitching, counting the minutes until we have to dance our way into yet another unknown.

I am heading into my second of four nights of tango, each one in a different city. Last night was Anchorage--folksy and funky and wine-soaked.

Tonight is Seattle. Seattle is not folksy or funky. Seattle is tango-cool.

This is the real thing: a Saturday night milonga. And there's no sneaking in and back out. I am supposed to meet a leader: a fellow dancer whose blog chronicles "the tango journey of a beginner who thinks too much."

Two weeks, when I first contacted him, this seemed like a lark: Two Blogs Dancing. What could be more fun than that?

Now that we're on the verge of the meeting, my stomach is making strong suggestions: "A nap would be more fun than that. A nice long nap. Put on your jammies. Have a nice cup of tea." (My stomach is partial to ginger and mint.)

No. I paint myself into these corners for a reason:

"I am an adventurer of the present," a mildly famous Frenchman said.*

I am an adventurer of the present. I carry my fears with me, but I still have adventures. My stomach protests; I haul it along, kicking and screaming. I honor its path, I just don't follow it.

So. This is how we will go forward: Clean the shoes. Take the shower. Fuss with the clothes. Do the hair. Play with the makeup. Pack the tiny dancing purse. Fiddle around until it's dangerously late, then put all the stoked-up adrenaline into the rush to get there. Ride the adrenaline across the threshold. Put on the tango attitude. Fake it. Get through the hard part. Relax.

Maybe, have a nice dance.

Later, have a nice cup of mint tea and a long sleep.

8 a.m. tomorrow: Drive to Portland and do it again.

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"I am an adventurer of the present," Christian Coudurès quoted in "Mr. and Mrs. Natural," The New York Times, 1/21/07.