{"id":4951,"date":"2019-12-31T20:31:28","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T03:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/?p=4951"},"modified":"2019-12-29T20:35:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T03:35:26","slug":"moving-into-the-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/2019\/12\/moving-into-the-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Moving into the New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLet\u2019s go dance!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I was a plus one, coming as a favor to a friend. I didn\u2019t have to impress anyone, and there was free food and a DJ. Her Co-worker\u2019s wife had been talking with me life she was my new BFF and that was fine with me.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the music was playing, and that was the real reason I wanted to be there. Let\u2019s get this party started!<\/span><\/p>\n

We made our way to the dance floor, ducking around the buffets and the elegantly dressed men and women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Last!<\/span><\/p>\n

I found a spot near the front with enough room to move and got my groove on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except the people to the side were coming at me. What?<\/span><\/p>\n

I moved over, and they moved over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My new BFF said \u201cIt\u2019s the electric slide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know the electric slide. I mean, I\u00a0know\u00a0<\/em> it but…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy I\u2019ll show you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a club I am not a member of. It seems all of America–maybe other countries too, for all I know–can line up in a row and their left foot out and tap and turn and then bump into me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I like the song. Leave me alone, I\u2019ll just groove to the song.<\/span><\/p>\n

But no! Everyone must teach me the RIGHT way to dance THIS song.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to do it the way everyone does it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to dance the way I want.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what dancing means to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

That cannot be permitted. This one has rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, this song is only played in situation of great conformity:<\/span><\/p>\n

Weddings<\/span><\/p>\n

Bar Mitzvahs<\/span><\/p>\n

Corporate parties<\/span><\/p>\n

So my klutzy ignorance burns extra fierce as I turn the opposite direction and move counter to the wall of shuffling bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m the one who is out of step. Literally, and holistically.<\/span><\/p>\n

The one who was picked last<\/span><\/p>\n

The one who stopped conversations when I entered the girl\u2019s bathroom in Jr high<\/span><\/p>\n

The one who doesn\u2019t understand what the plan was<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019ll come after me, you know. I could leave the dance floor, but someone will take my elbow and say \u201cIt\u2019s easy! I\u2019ll show you\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I\u2019m back in, crashing my misdirected body into the path of the ones who did get the memo.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not who I am! I can do things! I can be coordinated and keep the rhythm with elegance!<\/span><\/p>\n

Not here. Not now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until at last the song ENDS. The sweet release of <\/span>Wild Thing<\/span><\/i> comes on and I\u2019m set free.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got this. This space it mine. I can move here. Just get out of my way. You do your thing and I do mine.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve caught this drift. No conversations are stopping because of ME.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve come a\u00a0 long way, Baby.<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy New Year<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLet\u2019s go dance!\u201d I was a plus one, coming as a favor to a friend. I didn\u2019t have to impress anyone, and there was free food and a DJ. Her Co-worker\u2019s wife had been talking with me life she was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random-thoughts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4952,"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4951\/revisions\/4952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/writtenbymurphy.com\/wonderblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}