Seat Dancing

As I was driving to pick up my dogs from the daycare yesterday, a great song came on the radio, and I started singing along and seat dancing while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Then I thought about how I have been rocking with the radio and seat dancing ever since I learned to drive.  It is an activity I only engage in when by myself, or with my daughter or dogs.  When with others, I tone it down.

But I love to seat dance.  I love to sing at the top of my lungs in my car.

And then I had the thought, "Do I look ridiculous?  Are people in other cars looking and thinking that old woman is too weird for words?"  And then I thought, "Well, actually, I don't care if I look ridiculous.  Or if people think I'm weird."

And then I remembered multiple times in my life, rocking it out in my car by myself, when I looked at the person in the next car, and they were doing the same thing.  And you would smile face-splitting grins at each other, in a shared moment of divine weirdness and connection.

I thought about how my teenage self would have felt if I had seen a fifty-six year old woman rocking out in her car, and I probably would have not only smiled, but given a thumbs' up and it would have made my day.

So, at the next red light, I looked around.  I was the only one singing and dancing.  People were on their phones, or looking in their laps or passenger seats.  And no one was smiling.

It made me sad.

It seems like we are losing the simple pleasures of life because we are always engaged in something that doesn't make us smile.

I don't do the singing and dancing thing when I'm actually driving.  I may sing, but driving and dancing?  Remember the klutz who is typing here.  But at a red light, what is the harm?

I can't count the number of times I arrived at my destination with a huge smile on my face because of the last song I heard before I got out of the car.

I think we all need the mental escape of rocking it out in the car.  Of singing at the top of our lungs.  Of seat dancing like we really have talent.

So, I have one more reason to not text and drive, or talk on my cell phone while driving.  I need my little vacation with the music.  Time to remember the simple pleasure of singing and dancing with no one watching, and no need to care how silly I may look and sound.

And I'll keep looking around at red lights to see if anyone else out there is having as much fun as I am.  Because I miss the moment of shared weirdness and divine connection.  So put down your phone, put away your worries, and turn up the music.

We have a date in the future at a red light near you.