{"id":373,"date":"2017-10-05T05:31:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T05:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/?p=373"},"modified":"2017-10-05T15:16:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T15:16:36","slug":"just-beyond-the-dance-floor-is-a-place-called-wonderful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/05\/just-beyond-the-dance-floor-is-a-place-called-wonderful\/","title":{"rendered":"Just beyond the dance floor is a place called Wonderful…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I didn’t write at all last week.\u00a0 Nope not one word.\u00a0 I didn’t write because I find it difficult to write without hands and my hands were full of these handsome nephews of mine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I also didn’t go to the Depeche Mode concert with my sister last week.\u00a0 I told her I wanted to go, she bought the tickets, then–remembering my commitment to watch the precious BBs–I backed out, sending my daughter Paige in my stead.<\/p>\n

Paige loved the concert and had fun picturing me watching Depeche Mode back in the 80’s when I and they were young. And when she reminded me of some of their songs that I hadn’t listened to in years I had fun picturing me back there too.<\/p>\n

Listening to their music transported me back to a time of concerts and clubs, freely dancing into the early morning hours, wearing my perfect 80’s outfits and Aqua-Net hair.\u00a0 It was good. So good that I heard my younger self begin to whisper, “Aren’t you envious of me?\u00a0 Don’t you wish you could go back?”<\/p>\n

And for a moment I thought that maybe I did feel a touch of longing and envy for what had been. Until I remembered the words spoken by Morrie Schwartz, from “Tuesdays With Morrie”, <\/em>when author Mitch Albom asked him a similar question saying, “You know we live in a culture that worships youth. How do you keep from envying me my youth?”\u00a0 To which Morrie brilliantly replied,<\/p>\n

“Age is not a competition.\u00a0 Inside me is every age I’ve ever been, 10-year=old, 20-year-old, 37, like you.\u00a0 But also a 50-, 60-, 78-year-old man.\u00a0 So why should I be envious of where you are?\u00a0 I’ve already been where you are.\u00a0 You should be envious of me.\u00a0 I’ve got 40 years on you.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hearing Morrie’s words I’m able to tell my young self that we are not in a competition with one another.\u00a0 I don’t have to be envious of those days because I already lived them.\u00a0 I can close my eyes and remember being a PYT on the dance floor but along with that I also know what it is to be a newlywed and a woman who has been married for 27 years.\u00a0 I’ve been a mother with babies, and a mother who is now experiencing the joy of watching those babies grow into the most extraordinary adults. I have struggled, I have thrived and I have lived.\u00a0 Really lived.\u00a0 I have 30 years on my young, dancing self.\u00a0 30 years of wonderful.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And with my 30 years of wonderful I look to those who have a few extra\u00a0 decades on me and wonder, with quiet anticipation, about the secret they seem to hold just behind their smiles.\u00a0 It’s a secret that cannot be shared, a secret that must be earned.\u00a0 And while I may have not yet earned it, I think I can feel the corners of my own mouth turning up–ever so slightly–even now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I didn’t write at all last week.\u00a0 Nope not one word.\u00a0 I didn’t write because I find it difficult to write without hands and my hands were full of these handsome nephews of mine. I also didn’t go to the Depeche Mode concert with my sister last week.\u00a0 I told her I wanted to go, … Continue reading “Just beyond the dance floor is a place called Wonderful…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}