Bai looked at her figure in the mirror.

Little more than a size four, close to a size six.

Watching herself and her partner on video from a recent dance competition had shown her that she was not the skinny ballerina figure she used to be.

Time’ll do that to you.

That, and alcohol to a diabetic’s disposition.

She breathed.  She needed water, part of her purification cleansing diet, much like the nutritional input to which she resorted during her divorce.

Her so-called divorce diet.

She wanted to go back to per post-divorce size two, or a size one in clothing store labeled terms.

More importantly, she wanted to be a great dance partner again, spinning on point effortlessly, turning faster than anyone else on the floor, the perfect follower for the perfect leader.

She was no engineer but she understood inertia better than most scientists — it doesn’t take a formula to show you that you don’t move at the same speed as you did in 1998, or even 2008, when you went from a complete stop to 120 BPM in a second, not two.

With her new job as a night club DJ, she could cue up four or five songs and dance with the club patrons as part of her exercise regime.

As a dancing instructor, she just wasn’t burning calories as fast as she’d like.

Soon, she’d be showing off her slimmer figure at Swing Fling in Washington, D.C.

After that, who knew?  Maybe River City Swing in Jacksonville, Meet Me in St. Louis Swing Dance Championships or Boogie by the Bay in San Francisco.

She had goals, not all of them dance.  Sure, she’d like to travel overseas for dance competitions, buy a sewing machine and turn all of her students into top competitors, but there was more.

Much more.

Lose a boyfriend, gain a girlfriend who was her best friend, then her boyfriend’s former girlfriend.

She had options.  Choices.  Her secret to life was her happiness and youthful exuberance.

Her life was often tiring but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

She returned to the mirror and practiced a new move.

She had been taught by the best and expected nothing less from herself.

Practice, practice, practice!