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Challenge: Gratitude & Giving

Dance like your preschooler

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I've never felt my heart swell so big as when I walked around the corner of my kitchen to see my 4 year old completely breaking it down to some video she was watching on YouTube. Her and my son were going CRAZY shaking their hips, jumping up and down and waving their arms in the air. Laughing an infectious giggle that filled the air and all I could think about was how badly I wanted THAT feeling.

I want to be able to dance like my preschooler. To have zero inhibitions, zero cares in the world. To jump around and laugh like my life depends on it. To be able to hop right over the dirty socks on the floor, skip past the backpacks by the door, overlook the sink full of dishes and grooooove right beside the basket of unfolded, clean laundry and just smile.

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I want to be able to forget all of the bills on the counter, the endless list of tasks I still have to complete before bedtime arrives and just DANCE. I wish I could take a step back and forget about the parts of life that can be suffocating, if you let them.

I realized some things as I watched them two-step around the living room with such a fierce need to MOVE. I realized that I need to take a step back some days and just allow myself to have fun! I need to forget the mound of adult responsibilities that are piling up all over the house and find a good song and enjoy myself.

Why does it always have to be the bad things that happen that remind us to hold our loved ones close, to treat each minute as if it could be our last? Why does something tragic have to occur for us to take a step back and see the bigger picture?

Why can't it be the little, everyday things that help us to see a new perspective when we need it most? Can't a little smile, a child's hug, a small gesture or a dancing child be the thing that snaps us back into reality and reminds us of our mortality?

I am choosing today to see my dancing children as a reminder that life is not a given. That every moment is a lucky one and that every smile on their face is one that I am grateful they get to have. I want to remember to put down the hard stuff, the tedious stuff, the stuff that makes me want to rip my hair out and take a big breath and open my eyes. See that memories and moments like these are so much more important than an empty sink.

I want to take a note from my kids and remember that life is short, music is good, and sometimes, you just really need to dance it out.

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