Music is My Soul Food

Music.

It makes me dance.
It brings a smile to my face.
It's one way God reveals Himself to me.
There's a joy I find in music that I can't find anywhere else.

But it's not just me.

Watch how spontaneous singing on a French subway wins people over.
(Although sadly they're never able to get to the John Travolta look alike.)

And then there's this video ... one of my all time favorites.


This is the song that does it for me. I can't NOT dance when I hear this one.


What's your dance song of choice?

Just Dance

This man LOVED to dance.

Bust a Move

There's something about dancing that makes people happy.

I don't know what it is. But check out the reaction of the crowd in Liverpool Street Subway Station in London when people randomly started dancing. (Only the dancers were in on it.)



Here's how they did it. Brilliant ad on T-Mobile's part.

He Chose Me

Every once in a while I get completely overwhelmed with the people that God has chosen to put into my life. Does that ever happen to you? It happened for me tonight.

I haven't talked much about my boyfriend Chris on this blog. We were coworkers first before we were dating, and many of our mutual coworkers read this blog, so it's always felt a little weird to get all mushy about him here. But I feel like it's long overdue. After tonight, I couldn't NOT write about him. (Coworkers, consider yourself warned.)

I'll try to keep the mush factor to a minimum in this post, but you guys, he is seriously unbelievable. I am in awe that God has decided that we're right for each other. I don't deserve him. Here's an example ...

Tonight, I was having one "those" nights. Nothing major happened, but for some reason I was in a funk. I felt burdened by life, annoyed at the world, frustrated with my dog, crampy, tired, and irritable. I know I was not pleasant company. On top of all that, tonight is Monday, which means we had dance class (a.k.a. our weekly fight.)

There were so many reasons for Chris to get frustrated with me. But you know what? He didn't.

He didn't say "I told you so" when my dog ignored me, even though he HAS told me many times exactly how to train her. He didn't get impatient with me when I messed up the dance steps. Over and over again. He didn't try to pull me out of my funk or fix anything - he was just there with me while I was in it. He allowed me to be grouchy without allowing it to affect him. He listened to me and hugged me and encouraged me and told me I was lovely.

This man was a perfect reflection of Christ to me tonight. And do you want to know the most amazing part? He is like that a lot. Even in those times when he gets stressed or angry or frustrated, he somehow manages to keep God in focus. I've never met anyone who is able to do that like he does.

There's so much more I want to say about him, but I'll save that for another post. Suffice it to say I feel incredibly lucky - no, incredibly blessed - that he thinks I'm worth loving.

I'm honored that he's chosen me.

Zach and Sara Get Married

Sara was gorgeous. The bride and the matron of honor.
Bridesmaids.
Me with my baby sister.
Anyone want to guess how many "Are you next?" comments we got?
The capes were our lifesavers.
Micah had a matching suit.
Siamese twins.
Chris and his wife, Valeen.
Bridesmaids. Sisters. Friends.
Swing dancing.
Dave and Ellie cut a rug.
The fam.
The wedding was perfect.

Dance Lessons

Chris and I have been taking dance lessons.

West Coast Swing, to be exact.

We're five weeks into the three month beginners class. After five weeks, here is the conclusion I've come to: Every couple should take dance lessons.

I never realized this before, but dancing is perfect practice for a relationship. The things you have to learn in order to dance well are, I think, some of the most important things to learn in order to have a successful relationship.

1. There must be a clear leader and a clear follower.
We learned this lesson quickly ... two leaders won't work. In our very first class, I realized that I had no idea how to follow a lead. I'm sure this is something many women today struggle with. How can I expect him to be the leader - in our dance OR our relationship - if I won't let him lead? Still working on this one ...

2. You must be totally in tune with the other person.
West Coast Swing is a series of six or eight-count steps. The sequence of the steps is entirely up to the man, so the woman has constantly be reading his "signals." If either person is not paying attention to the other one, the dance falls apart. Not unlike a relationship.

3. Both people have to trust their partner completely.
With West Coast Swing, there is a lot of leaning involved. (It's called extension-compression technique.) Both people have to give equal pressure or one person gets off balance. Trust and confidence in your partner is critical.

4. There must be a strong connection between the two of you.
Chemistry between dance partners is what brings the dance to life. Eye contact, we've discovered, is a big part of this connection. West Coast Swing can be a very sexy dance when the connection is there.

I'm sure there are more parallels I could find. But you see my point.

Learning to dance has been like taking our relationship and putting it into a pressure cooker - all the stress causes everything to rise to the top. We've both had to let go of major insecurities and give each other a lot of grace.

But we're learning a lot and I'm totally convinced it's worth all the work. Besides the fact that we're working through some deep issues and will have a stronger, more fulfilling relationship because of it, we'll also be able to bust a move at the next wedding we attend.

Here a video of some of the world's best West Coast Swing dancers.