Have you ever danced just because?
In your bathroom alone while getting ready for the day?
In your car on the way to somewhere seemingly protected from onlookers by the tinted glass?
Down a hallway when you think no one can see?
I think I maybe have done each of those.
But what about on a crowded street corner, unabashedly as you wait for the light to turn green?
My boys and I have a new routine this year where I take them to school and my husband picks them up. Their school is in a new direction for me, but a few weeks in, I already have my routine down. We leave at approximately the same time from home, we hit all the same greens and reds, and now we are even starting to pass by the same people.
Late last week, motion caught my eye as we waited to turn right at a red. A teenage girl was standing on the street corner rocking out to the music from her phone as she waited for the crossing guard to move her safely across the street. And I mean rocking out. I could almost hear the music that must’ve been blaring in her ears through the rhythm of her steps.
My first thought was that maybe her eyes were closed and she was lost in the rhythms of her favorite playlist. I wondered if I had ever danced with such abandon forgetting people could see.
But then I realized her eyes were actually open. She was dancing to her hearts content and welcoming all around her to do the same. It was like she was shouting across the road: “Wake up, people! Stop being so stoic! It’s a beautiful day! Can you feel it?”
Since first seeing her, I’ve noticed this girl is there every morning, enthusiastically inviting those around her into her joy.
I wonder how many people take her up on it? I think the stoic crossing guard has yet to be won over… but how many others start to smile and dance in their cars simply because of her simple invitation to be joyful…
to be present…
to be free…
to be… you.
