A synergy of both…

Anyway – His name is Matt. And Matt dances his dance with this big ‘ol cheddar cheese smile on his face. He runs in place with his arms-a-flapping. And he’s TOTALLY SOBER. Yup. SO-BER.

Matt “dances” in the most amazing places you’ve NEVER seen… Some of the most picturesque, unknown, unheard of places… among some of the coolest and most breathtaking scenery you can imagine. He also dances in some of the places that you thank your lucky stars you weren’t born into.

He finds local – and random – people to come join him in his happy dance all over the world. And they gather from all over the place.

I LOVE people like this.

He does this with no motive. No agenda. No message.
He doesn’t want to sell you anything.
He does it for the sheer pleasure of reaching out and making people happy.

And in doing that, he makes me smile. And laugh. And roll my eyes. Happily.

The coolest thing is that by making videos about a simple, insignificant gesture, this man is in fact making it significant by putting a smile – and in many cases tears – on millions of other people. He’s bringing people together by doing the most ridiculously bad – I don’t know if I can even call it a dance – dance!

I’ve included his clip for you… I hope it brightens your day!
Maybe it will motivate you to dance in your living room… or maybe you’ll find a cooler place to break it down.

Plus – You just never know who will come and join you…..
Smile and enjoy!

Some of you may disagree with me on this, but I really don’t think that it matters what you call Him, as long as you acknowledge that there is, indeed, a higher power of some kind. Call him God, Jesus, Allah, Shangdi or whatever else and you still recognize that he’s THERE. Somewhere. And sometimes that recognition comes from the most unexpected places…

Keeping that in mind, I have another true story for you… A story about the same little girl with Cancer that you read about in Goldilocks, named Kaitlyn. It turns out that her mother (who now calls herself GI Jane because of the picture I posted) isn’t the only person that puts things into perspective for me… Sometimes, the lessons come from a younger voice.

“Jane” was walking down the hall one evening when she heard Kaitlyn in her bedroom having a conversation with someone. So, of course she eavesdropped a little,  thinking that her daughter was just playing with her dolls… but that wasn’t the case. So, she poked her head in the room and asked Kaitlyn who she was talking to.

Kaitlyn said “I was talking to God. He said he’s going to paint a picture for me!” And she giggled her little giggle.

Jane said “Oh, that’s nice!” and she shrugged off the conversation.

Less than a week later, Jane was at her parents’ waterfront home when she heard Kaitlyn talking to someone on the back screened in patio. Again, she poked her head through the door and asked her who she was talking to.

Kaitlyn said “I’m thanking God for the beautiful picture he painted me.” And she looked up and saw the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen, both in the sky and reflected in the water…

Kaitlyn sings Jesus songs when she undergoes chemo or radiation treatment. She sings because  “the angels come and hold my hand when it hurts”. What three year old says that, unprompted?

And just to be clear, (because I wanted clarification, myself) she actually sees them, hears them and feels them. You can ask her about it and she’ll tell you.

Jane tells me over and over that nobody put this in Kaitlyn’s head. Nobody prompts her. Kaitlyn brings it up, herself.

So, even though this is not a religious blog, when a child says something like that to you,  you can’t help but wonder… and dare to let yourself have a little more faith.

New Years feels wonderful. It’s almost like someone hit a “reset” button, somewhere in the sky. A new year. A new chance. It wakes us up, again… snaps us out of it. An invigorating sense of “I can do this” has replaced that beat-up feeling we’ve almost stopped noticing because of how regular it’s become…

So, what exactly does “I can do this” mean to you? We all make our resolutions this time of year, and I notice that the invigoration tends to motivate us to make a long list of super-ambitious goals. While we’re jotting them down, every single one feels perfectly attainable. I’m gonna lose 50 lbs, pay off all of my debt, make a million dollars, end world hunger and become president. LOL. Seriously? Ok. Have at it. And let me know how it goes for you.

Truthfully, I’m no exception. I set high goals too. And a lot of them. And every year on New Years Day, I take that list out of my drawer and look at it. And I wonder “what was I thinking???”  Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever met more than one big resolution in any given year. And I find that the times that I did, the goal that I checked off  my list was one that I had been chipping away at for YEARS; like finishing my bachelors degree.

So this year, I decided that I’m going to try a different approach. Instead of setting a million huge goals, I’m going to set one or two. And I’m really going to concentrate on putting a dent in them. Because if I make a shorter list, I won’t be spreading myself too thin and therefore won’t find myself staring at last year’s list (feeling totally defeated) wondering if I was drunk when I made it.

I’m also going to make my list a little less selfish and include a resolution that isn’t entirely about me. This year, I’m going to notice the good in someone, every day, and TELL THEM about it. Because even though we can’t change other people, we can influence how they feel when we make contact with them. And you’ll find that making others feel good will make you happy, too.

Since we’re so motivated, why not kill two happies with one stone, right? We’ll probably get more done that way. Happy 2009!

My dearest friend recently told me the story of her Tuesday… a day that re-connected me with my humanity… shook me… and made me conscious of things I’d forgotten a long time ago. And the funny thing is that she truly doesn’t have any idea that her actions made her my hero. And my teacher.

She has a daughter – Kaitlyn – who has been fighting a rare form of cancer since her second birthday… and in two weeks, she will be 4 years old. My friend and I talk pretty much every day… about anything and everything. And during our conversation earlier this week, she told me that she intended to chop her waist length golden hair and donate it to Locks of Love the next day.

When she came home from the salon that evening, Kaitlyn was waiting for her at the door. Unfortunately, the salon could not take her hair because she had highlights in it, (apparently, they cannot use hair that has ever been chemically treated) so she got a regular haircut instead of chopping it. One look, and it was evident that Kaitlyn was absolutely devastated by what she saw. With her little hands on her hips, she said “Mommy! I thought you were going to cut your hair like mine!”

Kaitlyn has been bald for most of her life, now. And to give her a sense of normalcy, her father shaves his head regularly “to be like her”. Kaitlyn was expecting mom to come home bald that night, as well.

So after a silent exchange with her husband, my friend went into the bathroom, took his clippers from the drawer, came out and handed them to Kaitlyn. And she let her daughter shave her waist length golden locks off.

My first reaction was shock. I was silent. And before I could say anything, my dear friend said calmly “I know what you’re thinking… but you should have seen her face. It was the happiest day of her whole life.” And I knew it was true.

It was then that I understood the gravity of what had happened. Almost immediately, the chills came. My eyes filled up a little… and then I smiled. I felt a warmth that I had almost forgotten exists. Because her act is a perfect example of pure, selfless, unabashed love. And for the first time in a long time, I felt re-awakened, re-connected and very, very aware of how wonderful people can be, even under the most unthinkable circumstances.

Mother and Child

I don’t know about you, but I don’t even bother watching the news, anymore… not unless the desire to have nightmares finds me that evening… and even then, I find that horror flicks do the same job. And at least I know they’re fictional.

Life has numbed us to the point where I feel like it’s time for someone to come and blow sunshine up our darker places and remind us of each other…remind us that people are GOOD. We do good things. We love one another. We inspire and encourage and draw strength from each other.

Maybe the media thinks that it’s doing us a (sadistic) favor by making us “aware” and perhaps even “thankful” for what we have… but the truth is that – instead – it’s making us angry, suspicious and afraid. We don’t trust anyone (or anything) anymore, and as a result have adapted this “why bother” sort of mentality. This blog is my answer to that “why bother” frame of mind.

I thought for a long time about how I wanted to approach this, and the answer came with a phone call from a dear friend with a sick child. She puts things into perspective for me… In fact, she reels me in regularly. This is my way of reeling you back in, or maybe helping you reel yourself in… by putting you in touch with the good stuff… the stuff that makes you smile and gives you the warm and fuzzy. And maybe, this will help you get rid of some of that numbness…