I Went Clubbing Last Night

One of the things that makes me most excited in this life is dancing. I constantly have dance parties with my toddler. I am NOT going to lie, we get down! We get down so much that she likes to go on the coffee table and dance on top so she can keep sort of eye level with me. We have dance parties almost every day. The other day we danced for thirty minutes! Wowza! I would never think a toddler would want to dance for a whole thirty minutes (now when I say dance, I do mean bouncing up and down with her little legs and just moving her rump, soooometimes she'll throw in a spin or a shoulder move. I know, very fancy)! I do these dance parties because I LOVE to dance. I don't remember the last time I was at a club... wait maybe I do, it was circa 2009, November to be exact. Just a few days before finding out I was growing a tinny little alien looking gummy bear in my belly. Of course once you have a baby you don't think, "Oh today, I think I am going clubbing". Hahaha, that thought never crossed my mind! But deep down inside the passion for dance is there, thus the amazing dance parties with my baby girl.

Last night I went clubbing. Not only does that feel silly to say because I'm almost thirty, but it's even sillier that I went to an over 18 gay club. And not just ANY club. I went to a club that I myself attended, almost every weekend, circa 2004 with some of my favorite friends. The ONLY reason I went yesterday, was to celebrate my nieces birthday. Her and her friends wanted to go out dancing but they are not 21 yet, thus going to this particular place. I was honored that she thought her old lady aunt would be hip enough to go out dancing with all of her friends, so I could not deny the invitation. As I walked into the club, I was filled with thousands of memories of the " ARC company dance days". As I danced my little tush off, I couldn't help but feel so proud of my friends that I once had the honor of sharing the dance floor with. I'm a completely different person now than who I was way back when and to know that those friends have loved me ever since then, gave me chills and warmed my heart.

Same place, different perspective in life. How cool is that. As I dance with these teens/early twenty something people, all I could think of was, I really hope they get to have wonderful memories and wonderful friendships as I have.

In life, we can't ever chose our family (we need to honor them because they are a gift from God in-spite of how irritating they might seem at times). However, we can choose our friends. Our friends are going to love us, encourage us, tell us we're smoking crack when we do something stupid. Our friends help us find ourselves in this big,big world. God places the friends He thinks are going to help us grow and become a better person in life. These are friendships that can last a lifetime if you work hard at it. Even friendships take  work. But worth every effort.

I say today you take the time to tell your friends how much you freakin' love them. Even when they make you mad, your fiends are always going to know who you are, where you've been and what box you've danced on at the CLUB.

Stay blessed and stay saucy!!!

Perception, perception, perception.

This story is all 100% true, but the people in it are disguised with different names to protect their identity… Read on if you must. The other day I was talking to my friend Falula on my couch and we were disclosing some pretty saucy secrets about ourselves. She was so awesome to be completely honest with me and tell me that when she first met me she was intimidated by me (it must have been my stature and amazing muscles that did it).  She went on to tell me a story where a loooooooong time ago she decided I wasn’t quite made up to be her friend. There was an incident where in doing her make up with a different friend of mine, let’s call her…. Gladys, Falula pulled out her “Wet-N-Wild” eye shadow. As her finger caught the dollop of makeup and slowly and dramatically moved inch by inch, closer and closer to her eye lid……. Gladys gasped the most horrible gasp a girl named Gladys could produce and said; “Why Falula, what in the name of all that’s fashionable and hip are you doing!? Are you really putting “Wet-N-Wild” on your face?! Libier (that’s me) would NEVER do that!” And there you have it folks. Falula for sure thought I was a crazy ol’ make-up freak that would never put the kind of make-up she thought was perfectly okay, on my face. And with a simple piece of data about who I was, she formed a skewed perception of me, and I don’t blame her.

Okay, funny thing is that while yes, I used to be a makeup snob for whatever reason, that single factoid about me did not make up who I was in its entirety. I am sure that there was and is more to me than just liking materialistic things. But,when we don’t have all of the information on a person or a situation, it is very difficult to formulate an accurate report of who they are or what the situation is. NOT to say I’ve never assumed someone was a particular way based on a tinny factoid, just saying that it’s not the best way to figure someone out is all. I’ve done that many times just so you know. But I do believe in getting better and better as a person, and this is something super important because it’s sad to know that some of the things we like or we stand for will be staples of how others view us. And sometimes it’s not in the best light.  I started thinking about people in my life and how I view them, after analyzing my thoughts and behavior I came to the conclusion that everyone is just really scared and we ALL want to fit in and to be liked….dare I say LOVED and accepted. It makes me want to cry that Falula and I couldn’t dig deeper to see if there was more to our friendship other than our disagreement on a brand of make-up. I am glad that she and I have become closer and she now sees that there is more than meets the “wet-n-wild” eye with me. But that took years to happen. What amazing friendships are you losing out on based on your perception of peeps you’ve met?! Can I just say that my priorities have shifted a tiny bit and if you were to look in my make-up bag right this second you WOULD find a compact of “Wet-N-Wild” powder in it, just sayin’. Gladys don’t cry now..

Stay blessed and stay saucy people!

Friendship

This week I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the meaning of friendship. My favorite musical, Wicked, has a song about friendship that every time I listen to it I just want to cry because it resonates so deep in my heart and it reminds me of all of my friends that I love so much. The start of the song goes a little bit like this:“I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason . Bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow If we let them and we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true, but I know I'm who I am today, because I knew you.” I have a feeling that there are no mistakes about the people we meet, when we meet them and how long they are in our lives. We are all connected in some way you and me to give help to one another. When I look at my life and the friends that are in it, I see a colorful palette of friendships that help my life in many diverse ways. I have my friends that tell me the truth no matter if it hurts or not, I have friends that give me the biggest laughs of my life, I have friends that I can talk to about musicals and can do REALLY dorky things with , I have friends that are more level headed than me and help me find the “adult” within me. The friend that I talk to once in a great while but still have tons to say to. The younger friends that “look” up to me for being an upstanding adult. HA And there are the friendships that have been built that are so strong at the core that they feel as if they were my own blood brothers and sisters, friends that know every single thing about me and still love me for who I am and help me continue my growth. We are all here to need and love people. No one person can survive without the contact of another human being. We need to be loved , we need to feel accepted and we need to feel care and concern from and for someone else. I thank God for all the people he’s put in my life. And this week in particular I’ve been thinking of all the people that I know and that surround me and I’ve been analyzing and wondering what they’ve done for me and my growth and vice versa. It’s so cool to know that EVERY person is placed in your life for a reason. Think today of the people who surround you and what you’ve learned from them. Thank them for their friendship because you are who you are today because of them in some sort of way.

Thank you to all of you, yes I’m talking to YOU if I’ve met you and you’ve had any part in my life I want to thank you for your interaction with me because you’ve made me grow in many ways. There is a definite love for all of you that goes beyond what words could say. I’m who I am today because I knew you. And I can’t ever thank you enough!