But for the virus, right now we would all be packing or at least thinking about packing for our inaugural BRSDS week. We had a U-Haul reserved to carry the dance floor donated by Bob Messner and renovated by Lewis Tumlin and Rick Shireman. Some of us would have been headed to Boone on Wednesday in order to have the floor ready for Monday morning's class. (We would have held our welcome dance on Sunday evening in the dance studio as the student center was closed for the 4th of July holiday weekend.) We would have welcomed the board members, staff and few international travelers on Saturday and begun to change the dorm into a festive Scottish Country Dance center. Sunday would have seen the full out registration and moving into a modern, air conditioned dorm complete with elevators! The Hickory Hop Shuttle service would have been busy transporting dancers from Charlotte International Airport.
But for the virus, we would have been greeting old friends and making brand new ones - friendships that last a lifetime birthed by our common love of Scottish Country Dancing. We would have danced to fabulous music performed by Mo Rutherford, Neil Copland, and Mara Shea. We would have had exceptional instructors, Linda Henderson and William Williamson leading morning classes.
Our afternoons would have been filled with opportunities for more fellowship enjoying the great outdoors in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, being educated in entertaining topics, or just hanging out on or around the campus of Appalachian State University. We would have had an exciting auction with opportunities to help fund BRSDS with some exceptional items including pottery, paintings, quilts, photographs, stained glass, and lots more. We would have shared some laughs and been amazed at some unique Ceilidh acts.
But for the virus, Friday evening would have seen us dressed to the nines and attending a fabulous catered banquet in the lovely Parkway Ballroom with an excellent view of the mountains followed by our first BRSDS ball. Many dancers would have spent Saturday enjoying the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games with all its many Scottish offerings of music, athletics, clan gatherings, food, souvenirs, and of course dancing.
I'm going to miss all of you and what would have been a fantastic week. But there's always next year.
Susan Tumlin
BRSDS Interim President