I’m dedicating this post to my Uncle Randy. He was struck by a stroke last year and I think it was a wake up call for the entire family. He’s quite an energetic person and instead of a Social Butterfly, I like to think of him more as a Giant People Magnet. He’s highly emotionally intelligent and the life and soul of the party.
A week ago we celebrated his 60th birthday party. Boy was it a big deal! It was a surprise and he flew over from Maryland to his birthplace, Barbados for a supposedly small family gathering that he believed he was organising.
Little be known to him that his wife, sisters and friends were all plotting the most marvellous surprise bash imaginable. I mean, the plot was almost sinful. They invited his old school teacher, old friends that he hadn’t seen for years and best friends and neighbours from Maryland who were being flown in especially for the grand occasion. But I think the icing on the cake was to find out that those same neighbours who had wished him a happy birthday while they waved goodbye to him at Maryland Airport, were secretly hiding across the street from where he would be staying, awaiting the birthday surprise. Yes, they were all part of the plot and they were just waiting for the moment to jump out and say, “SURPRISE”.
It was an awesome occasion and the proceedings went as planned. Let’s just say that the sitting position was the most appropriate one after he walked into the dimly lit room and realised he had been totally nooked! Not to mention when all of the overseas contingent started crawling out of the woodwork one by one.
After all of the speeches, laughter and celebration it was time to hit the dance floor. The DJ struck up the music and we were off.
I’m an avid people watcher and thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the old friends and family displaying their well oiled moves across the dance floor. What a sense of joy they felt. It was delightfully contagious.
One of the ladies on the table I was seated at started complaining about how much weight she was going to put on after she ate the dessert and what it was going to take to burn it all off. In the grand scheme of things in my mind this was such a small problem to have. There was my uncle, smile on face, feet in motion and dancing the night away without a care in the world. This is a man who the year before lay in a hospital bed not knowing whether he’d ever walk again much less dance.
Then it jumped out at me… Life is not linear, it’s unpredictable, bad things happen to some really lovely people, so we need to celebrate life, appreciate it and make the most out of every waking moment. I became so aware that people can waste so much valuable time focussing on little issues like weight loss and calories and miss all the joy that life can bring. At that point a quote I love so much ” Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” made so much more sense. All the cares and small things that I had been worrying about became instantly smaller as I watched my uncle oozing with a new lease on life. Immediately I grabbed my hubby, got my heels in toe and headed for the dance floor to shake a leg.
That night we danced like there was no tomorrow to songs we loved and songs that were new to us. We laughed as if our lives depended on it, every couple loved as if they were the only lovers in the room. But most of all we celebrated the most precious gift that has ever been given to man, LIFE. That night we didn’t just live it, we reverenced it.
I wrote this little story for you as a reminder that life is really short and we have absolutely no control over how our tomorrow will turn out when it comes to our health. We can do all the right things, which is vitally important but there’s still an element that doesn’t belong to our doing, planning or execution.
I hope it will speak to you as it did to me that night on the dance floor and remind you that no matter what you’re going through. Don’t Ever Forget to Dance!
Do me a favour and drop me a line and let me know the last time you danced or thought about dancing. I’d even like to hear from you if you have 2 left feet. That’s okay too. You can dance in your imagination.
the growth blog 