Caught Jammin

I had psyched myself up all week for a night of dancing.  Rarely do I plan ahead, but last week I had concert tickets, a sitter, an outfit and I was looking forward to Saturday night.

About 4 hours 'till go time, a text from the sitter left me more than a little deflated. And after about 15 'sorry but no's' from the babysitting co-op, backup sitters and even neighbors, I realized it was not to be.

Not wanting to make it a complete waste, I hit a sacrifice bunt and allowed my husband to invite a friend in return for an hour of 'me time' out of the house while he put the kids down.

So... where to go? Saturday night? The world's my oyster.  My favorite bar? A coffee shop with my Kindle? The mall for some retail therapy? I pondered these ideas as my car drove itself to The Container Store.  sigh. I felt like Will Ferrell in Old School.

Like I said, I was psyched up for dancing and, I must admit, the soundtrack at the Container Store was bumpin' (is that a phrase anymore? was it ever?)

So as I pondered the inspirationally large variety of sink-side sponge holders, 'Forget You' by Cee Lo Green comes on and I allow my head just a little nod action. The music picks up and the shoulders and hips just start moving and before I know it, the lip is bit and I'm in it. Shoot, its Saturday Night there isn't another soul here right? I'm in full on 'get is squirrel' mode and about half a beat from spanking my own ass when my eye catches the movement across my aisle.

Craptastic. But he kept walking right on by. Until he walked backward and stared straight at me.

"It's a hot song."

His grin put me at ease.

"It is!" probably a little too enthusiastically. "I wasn't sure you caught me."

"It's cool though, I was doing the same thing... just in my head."

"Well get out of your head and boogie it down with me in the kitchen storage aisle."  I said in my head, and luckily only in my head. cuz that would've been weird right? did I miss an opportunity there? no that would've been weird. moving on.

We proceeded to have a pleasant conversation about Cee Lo's start in the Goodie Mob (here's Cell Therapy for your enjoyment).  He guessed, by my looks that I knew more about Cee Lo's role in GLEE, and The Voice... he was right but I promised him I would youtube Goodie Mob and Dirty South movement when I got home. And we both went dancing on our way.

Now, I'm not sure if the conversation necessarily changed my life.  Goodie Mob is not part of my ipod collection and I'm no different than I was before walking into the Container Store. But, I do know that that interaction made me smile all the way home and let me give Rob a genuinely happy send off so he could genuinely enjoy the concert, etc. etc. And I know that if I hadn't been dancing, the encounter wouldn't have happened and happiness wouldn't have ensued.

I think dancing, in essence, tells people that you are open, you are happy and most of all you are a little vulnerable... which is such a good thing. When you admit openly that you're vulnerable, you aren't in a place to judge or look down, you are just grateful for what you have and hopeful that the good in life will continue.

I think we should all dance, all the freaking time.  Dance off your blues.  Dance in church. Dance with your love. Dance diggity dance dance dance.

To get you started, here's a pop, here's an Abba and here's a safety dance.

Speaking of Safety Dance, you really need to check out that video. AWESOME. and, on another safety dance issue, I used to think the lyric, 'if they don't dance, then they're no friend of mine' was kind of harsh... but ya know what. Now I dig it. So you're on notice, friends and friends of friends.

thanks for reading. now go dance! betcha meet someone fun at the very least, betcha make someone smile!