Shut Up and Dance with Me

We took a trip to Philadelphia to go to the bar mitzvah of the son of my friend, Anna.  Anna's son was born during our second year of law school.  Anna told stories that were simultaneously hilarious and sad of trying to keep her pregnancy under wraps while working as a law clerk our 1L year.  It was hilarious because Anna is one of the funniest people I know and was laughing hysterically about how she was worried that her pregnancy-related nose bleeds would cause the partners at the firm where she was working to wonder if she had a coke habit. Anna gave a home run toast to her son at the bar mitzvah which was so funny and touching that we are still talking and laughing about what she said weeks later. And her stories about her pregnancy during her summer internship were sad because it is sad in this day and age that women still feel the need to minimize a pregnancy at work. I know I did as well.

But back to the party.  It was one heck of a party. On the way home from the celebration, David said to me "Mom, can we change to Jewish so that I can have a party like that?!?"  I would say inspiring children to seek to convert religions is the sign of a great time.

I loved watching my children dance that night.  Who knew my children could dance?  They definitely didn't get it from Joe (he will be the first to tell you that), and while I took a lot of dance lessons growing up and loved performing routines, I am not an outgoing dancer when it comes to improvising on the dance floor.  Our kids are at that great age where they are not yet inhibited.  Apparently I should revel in this while I still can, because the 13 year-olds at the bar mitzvah definitely were at that self-conscious phase, which is to be expected for junior high kids.  There was no early teenage dancing going on.  It was reminiscent of a middle school dance. My kids, on the other hand, have yet to develop self-consciousness.  The other day I took David to the pool and he did not see why it would be a problem for him to drop his drawers on the pool deck and throw on his swim suit.

Not so great when it comes to public nudity, but lack of inhibition is great when it comes to the dance floor. Those kids can cut a rug!  They were bopping all over the place, requesting songs from the DJ and flying around the room, arms and legs going crazy as they danced with pure joy.  Their dancing was excellent but their musical taste is something that needs a little coaching.  Their playlist of requests included "I Like to Move It Move It"and the "Macarena" ("Where on earth did you hear about that?!?" I asked. "We learned it in gym class!" they said.  Fair enough.  Gym class is where I learned the electric slide.)  Those requests were panned by the DJ, but they did get a winner with their request for the current spring/summer hit "Shut Up and Dance with Me."  It is a catchy song, but I think they like it because they get to yell "SHUT UP and dance with me" about 20 times in a row.  I tried to get them to change the lyrics to "Come on and dance with me" but Julia accused me of "lying" because "those aren't the real words, mom!"  Sometimes songs are just meant to be sung as they were written.  And I hope they never lose their beautiful gift for dance.