I Hope You Dance

May’s motivational calendar theme is “Dance.” My husband and I recently ate at a Latin Cuisine restaurant and then a Polish diner on nights when each offered live music. After a year of living with COVID restrictions, we gratefully allowed the music to envelop our souls and reveled in people’s joy as they danced.

It reminded me of a time when, at the age of five, I watched Shirley Temple movies with my parents and then relentlessly begged for tap dance lessons. I also recalled how, after a few sessions, I begged to stop. I had private lessons in a basement with a dance teacher who invaded my privacy*. It wasn’t until I danced with my husband at our wedding that the joy of dance returned.

Many things can rob our joy—trauma, illness, difficult circumstances. Recently, however, I listened to an old favorite that encouraged me to embrace the everyday dance of life. Titled I Hope You Dance, the songwriter reminds us that time is a wheel in constant motion. When one door closes we should look for another to open. We should give faith a fighting chance and, when given a choice to sit it out or dance, we should dance. In the chorus, the backup singers ask, “Who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone?” Listening to the song, I’m compelled to answer—not me!

I hope this is also your response. Continuing to pursue our healthy “lean and green” lifestyle helps both Mark and me “dance” more. I continue to create cards of favorite new recipes, cooking enough food for two nights at a time while listening to songs listed on my calendar pages. I have each month’s page posted on the side of my fridge so I can easily review their themes and motivational words. By opening my phone’s camera and holding it over the QR code posted on the calendar page, I can easily open links to the songs as I cook. If you’re not receiving my monthly calendar pages, you can get them by signing up for my newsletter.

Another way I’m “dancing” is to move forward in my writing goals. I recently queried an agent about finding a publisher for my revised YA historical fiction book regarding the Polish Boy Scouts and Girl Guides working alongside the Polish Underground during WWII. This agency recently sold a book to Scholastic, one of my long-range goals. The agent responded positively to my query so—stay tuned! I also recently revised my middle-grade novel, The Bronze Dagger, and Amazon’s Audible published an audiobook of it (available for free or $6.08). Now, with renewed health, I hope to schedule school visits in Texas, California, and in states along the Oregon Trail when schools reopen this fall!

I’d love to hear ways in which you’re “dancing” (or perhaps struggling to dance) these days. Drop me a line to share! mesontag@gmail.com
My book, When Love is Not Perfect discusses steps for abuse recovery.