A couple of weeks ago I helped my neighbor girl, who is a Junior in High School get ready for her prom. She got her hair done, we did her nails and I helped her lace up the back of her beautiful (and very expensive) pink prom dress. She was so giddy excited and I loved every minute of helping her get ready. Then, off she went to get her pictures taken with her friends. I saw them on facebook the other day and they were all so gorgeous. She and her friends looked so happy. They smiled nice for the cameras, and for some, not so nice, making goofy faces. Then they headed off to dance the night away. And you know what? She didn't even have to be drunk to dance.
Most of us danced at our proms. Stone cold sober. Why is it that my Junior year of college, a mere 4 years later, you hear a chorus of "I only dance when I'm drunk" when a good boogieing song comes on? I have never been one who minds making a fool of myself in the name of fun when I have my girls with me. Maybe I mind a little less when I have a few drinks in me, but it's not a necessity.
When I was in high school, I remember playing on the "dream park" in the rain with my friends. Swinging on the swings to see who can get higher and playing "tag" around the big toy. And I know my friends and I were not the only teens to do these things. Watching my neighbor girls grow up has been proof. No one is surprised when a 4 year old does these things, but I was 17 and at 17, we're far more adult than child.
I just don't know what comes over us as we reach legal adulthood that makes us unable to have fun anymore. I may dance sober, but I don't laugh nearly as much as I did when I was younger. Is it the responsibility, and the worries that comes with it, that takes over our thoughts and makes us unable to let loose?
Well, my challenge for myself is to loosen up and have fun with life. And dance like no one is watching.
