I Hope You Dance!


I was born into a family that loved to dance, so I didn’t have a choice -                               

but to dance!   

My parents loved to polka and I grew up with “The Bop” and “The Stroll”.  In junior high I did a lot of dancing with our kitchen cupboard doors.  Anything to practice before the Friday night Tri Hi Y dances that took place at our local YMCA.  My four brothers would roll their eyes as they passed through the kitchen.  But that didn’t faze my desire to dance.  I arrived with my friends and as we lined the walls of the dance area we tried with everything we had to not look like -

wallflowers.   

Because that’s the last thing you wanted to look like.   

One by one the boys would come across the dance floor and as you held your breath and  

waited. . .

they walked right on by. . . 

and you tried to look cool and to act as if you didn’t even notice or care because you were too busy in conversation with your friends.   

And then - 

out of the corner of my eye I noticed one stopped directly in front of me.   
and there he was - 

holding his hand out to dance - 

with me. . . 

But there was this one time when a boy asked me to dance, before I could stop myself, the word “no” tumbled out of my mouth because somewhere in my mind I thought he just might be teasing me and his buddies might be watching from across the dance floor. 

Sometimes opportunities come to us and because of fear we let them  

pass us by. . .  

Sometimes we’re looking so far down the road that we miss what’s right  

in front of us. . .  

Sometimes we need to make space - 

for the miracles to happen. . . 

And then sometimes, we throw caution to the wind and with it ourselves 

And we just dance. . . 

As I give a “nod” to 2014 and tumble into 2015 

I leave you with this song - 

“I Hope You Dance” by Tia Stillers 

I hope you still feel small 

When you stand by the ocean. . . 

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens 

Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance.

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance - 

I hope you’ll dance. . . 

I hope you’ll dance. . .

 

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