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This week marks another square dance anniversary for me, 13 to be exact, and I keep thinking back to how it all started. What was supposed to be something simple – learn a few calls, try something new, meet some new people – turned into something that quietly reshaped a lot more of my life than I expected.

Square dancing has a funny way of doing that.

At its core, it’s eight people trying to move together without crashing into each other, guided by a caller who’s already three steps ahead of everyone else. Some nights it flows like it’s second nature. Other nights it’s controlled chaos held together by timing, laughter, and the collective decision to just keep going.

I’ve had both. Plenty of both.

I’ve made mistakes – some small, some that felt very noticeable in the moment – and I’ve had those nights where you just have to laugh and reset because there’s no elegant way out of what just happened. I’ve also had the nights where everything clicks, and for a few tips you feel like you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.

And somewhere in all of that, I stayed.

What I didn’t expect was how much this would change me outside the dance floor, too. Walking into a room of people you don’t fully know and having to move, respond, trust, and be part of something bigger than yourself isn’t always easy. But over time, it becomes familiar. Then comfortable. Then something you actually look forward to.

It gave me a place to show up as I am, without overthinking it the way I so often do. A place where the structure of the dance gives you something to hold onto, and the people around you makes it feel a lot less intimidating than it once did.

That part matters more than I ever thought it would.

And recently, something I didn’t expect has come back into my life in a new way: calling.

Rekindling calling has been both exciting, a little humbling and very scary. There’s a different kind of pressure when you’re the one guiding the floor – thinking ahead, reading reactions, adjusting in real time while still trying to sound calm and confident. It stretches a different part of my brain, and honestly, it’s been pulling me back in all over again.

It feels like rediscovering something I didn’t realize I’d put down.

And through all of it, the best part is still the people. The ones who laugh when things go sideways. The ones who don’t make mistakes feel like mistakes. The ones who show up week after week and make this whole strange, beautiful system work.

That kind of community is rare.

So today isn’t just an anniversary of learning square dance calls. It’s an anniversary of sticking with something long enough for it to become part of me. Of growing into spaces I used to hesitate in. Of finding confidence in motion, in rhythm, and in being surrounded by people moving in the same direction.

I don’t know what this next year will look like – on the floor or behind the mic – but I know I’m still here. Still learning. Still showing up.

And still a little surprised at how much I’ve come to love all of it.

See you in a square!

I left one important thing off of my recent recap…

Jason and I drove exactly 700 miles to Tampa. Not for the beaches or even the adventures of a road trip but for a BTS concert.

Jason played the part of a doting husband and entertained his wife’s crazy obesssion.

And before anyone starts making assumptions… I’ve heard them all.

“They’re just a boy band.”

“They’re Kpop.”

“You can’t even understand what they’re saying.”

To which I would like to point out that half of America spent the last decade singing along to “Despacito” without knowing the words, so let’s not get too carried away.

I’ll be honest – I almost enjoy telling people I like BTS just to watch their facial expressions. There’s always a brief moment where their brain tries to reconcile “grown married woman who square dances” with “drives 700 miles to see 7 Korean men perform in a language she doesn’t understand.”

When I told Jason that BTS were planning a world tour. He didn’t even hesitate “Let’s go!” I don’t think he realized that for international artists “world tour” means an actual WORLD tour and not North America gets 134340 stops and Europe gets 2 and Japan might get lucky and have 1. Small town Johnson City, Tennessee was a long way from any tour stop.

BTS kicked off the ARIRANG tour in South Korea before heading to Japan, then crossed the Pacific for a stadium run through North America. From there they’ll spend the summer filling stadiums across Europe before moving into Latin America, Australia, and additional dates throughout Asia. By the time the tour wraps up in 2027, they’ll have performed more than 80 concerts across five continents and over 30 cities. So yes, WORLD tour.

And for the record, Jason had a good time. He nerded out over the PA, (for the non-nerds, audio stuff) and even dragged his own friend into the nerding mid-concert. And most importantly, he survived.

The part that always surprises people is the crowd. Stereotypically, people picture screaming teenage girls. And while yes, there are teenage girls, there are also parents, grandparents, engineers, nurses, veterans, teachers, CEOs, and plenty of people just like you and me.

One thing that stood out was how many people were dressed up. Not just in concert t-shirts, but in sequins, custom outfits, themed looks, and enough purple to paint a small town. To an outsider, it might seem over the top. But after spending years in that crowd, I realized it’s because BTS concerts are one of the few places where people feel completely safe being themselves. Nobody cares if you’re 16 or 60, if you’re wearing designer clothes or a homemade jacket covered in rhinestones. People show up as the most unapologetic version of themselves because they know they’ll be met with compliments instead of judgment. In a world that constantly tells people to tone it down, ARMY seem to have collectively decided to do the exact opposite.

And the atmosphere was weirdly… beautiful.

I know, that’s not a very exciting description.

But when you puts tens of thousands of people into one place, “beautiful” is actually pretty impressive.

People traded freebies with complete strangers. Others made friends with whoever they happened to be sitting by. (Including Jason) They helped others take photos. They complimented outfits. They shared sunscreen, phone chargers, and directions. Nobody seemed interested in proving they were the biggest fan in the crowd. Everyone was just happy to be there.

Then the concert started.

Now, you’re not required to like BTS. But if you can watch 7 performers sing, dance, run across a stadium stage, and somehow still make thousands of people feel interacted with, you have to at least respect the amount of work involved.

I can barely walk up a flight of stairs without sounding like I’m fighting for my life.

I’ve just barely started talking about the concert and this post is already miles long… Sorry…

It’s hard not to appreciate the sheer scale of the production. The stage stretched across a huge portion of the stadium, with massive video screens making sure even the people in the back felt connected to what was happening. Every song had its own visual identity, and there was never a moment where the show felt static or repetitive.

The lighting deserves its own paragraph because it wasn’t just there to help us see. It was part of the performance. Entire sections of the stadium would change colors in an instant, synchronized with the music. Spotlights, lasers, video effects, and tens of thousands of fan light stick (called ARMY Bombs) and Jason’s favorite, LED banners carried by backup dancers. Transformed the stadium into something completely different from song to song. One minute it felt intimate, and the next it felt like being dropped into the middle of a ball of fire. Even Jason, who spends his free time analyzing concert lighting, commented on how impressive it was.

My favorite part was the music itself. The setlist jumped between high-energy tracks, rock-inspired songs, emotional ballads, and a few surprise nostalgic songs that are different for every concert. You don’t need to understand Korean to recognize a powerful vocal performance or a crowd singing along to every word. By the end of the night, it was obvious that the language wasn’t really the point. The music, the energy, and the connection between the performers and the audience made it all tie together.

But for a few hours nobody seemed concerned about politics, bills, or the stress of everyday life. They were simply enjoying a shared experience. In a world that often feels divided, that was refreshing.

And you know this isn’t Rosie talking unless I drag square dancing into this.

I’ve spent 13 years explaining square dancing to strangers. Explaining BTS is honestly not that much different. Most things aren’t nearly as ridiculous once you’ve experienced them yourself. And life is a lot more fun when you’re willing to be enthusiastic about something – even if other people don’t get it.

Alright, this is my first official blog post, (at least here…) so I should probably act like I planned what I was going to say… But the truth is I finally stopped overthinking it and just started writing.

It’s been a while since some people have heard from me. I guess that’s what happens when you move from Alabama to Tennessee and then blink. And by “a while,” I mean long enough that I could’ve probably gotten away with reinventing myself completely and no one would’ve had time to fact-check it. But instead, I’ll just give you the real version.

Jason and I got married on January 2nd in Charleston, South Carolina in a private ceremony. Small, intentional and blissfully free of any expectations or opinions about the dress I wore. (And no, I’m afraid no one will see pictures of me in a white dress…) We kept it simple and “us” because that’s the way we wanted to start the rest of our normal life. Normal.

Since then, life has settled into a rhythm with enough chaos to not be boring, but boring enough that we’re not going insane.

Of course, we dance regularly. Not in the poetic metaphoric way – actual dancing. We try to dance at least once a week – if not more. Speaking of, I got an opportunity to teach a square dance class this week and it was a little bittersweet but it’s worth being remembered. Let me be clear – this was not a graceful “return to a passion.” This was more like walking into a memory and hoping it still recognized me. For a minute I fully expected my brain to just… not cooperate. But then the rhythm kicked in, the calls came back, and suddenly I was calling again.

Jason is still working on the financial side of specialty pharmacy, which is one of those fields that carries a lot of complexity behind the scenes, and he’s been deep in that world, building, problem-solving, and keeping things moving in a space most people never see but absolutely depend on.

And me? I’ve decided that my “retirement era” involves building websites. It started as something harmless – just a little design tweaking, a little fixing things that weren’t technically broken but offended my sense of order anyway. And that has slowly devolved into me noticing spacing issues on websites that I don’t own… Both a gift and a curse.

So this is the beginning of this blog.

Not a highlight reel. Not a carefully curated “everything is beautiful” announcement. Just life. And who knows, this blog may go to where all the other blogs go. Forgotten about and with no one to miss it. Or it could grow into something beautiful and a way for me (and Jason, if the urge hits him) to put our boring thoughts into words.

And if this is where I’m starting, I guess the only rule from here is simple: I’ll show up when there’s something worth saying, not just when life is perfectly in order.