Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Dancing Granny

Sometimes I just really marvel at what a great world we have the honor of occupying and the cast of characters that share in the experience.  I saw Jack Johnson in concert last night under a beautiful moonlit sky.  We were laying in the grass section and  in front of me was an older lady (mid to late 60's).  She had flowers in her long hair and was wearing a short floral sundress, and strappy sandals.  In a nutshell, she was dressed like she was 18.  Not your typical granny for sure.  She struck up conversations with all the people around her, stood up and danced wildly with her arms swinging in the air, and she knew every word to every song.  Of course people were pointing at her and having a chuckle at her expense. Furthermore, she knew people were doing this but didn't care!  For a moment, I too, thought to myself, "What a strange lady!". But then I had a second thought.  I thought about how beautiful, liberating and great it was that she was really living her life to the fullest.  Just because she's older why should she stop living, dancing, and singing?  What our society should find really odd is when we take our mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, etc. and relegate them to a corner chair in front of a TV when they get old.  We tell them "you're too old to dance", "a person your age should act like that", and other things.  What these sentences really translate to is "your time has passed".  That's really sad when you think about it.  Living life to its fullest shouldn't end until your last waking breath.

I hope for the rest of my life I remember the dancing granny at Jack Johnson.  Her image will remind me to embrace life and dance like there is no tomorrow - no matter what my age.