Dance of Life and Girls Just Want to Have Fun – #BOAW16

Waterolor beautiful girl. Vector illustration of woman beauty salon

Waterolor beautiful girl. Vector illustration of woman beauty salon

I’m thrilled to be able to take part in this year’s Beauty of a Woman blogfest.

I’ve done tons of reflecting back on my life since I turned 60 in March. Funny that no matter how old we get, we still feel young inside. My mom turned 80 last October, and she feels the same way. The trick is getting our bodies to cooperate.

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One of the things I love most in life is dancing to good music. It lifts my spirits like nothing else and makes me feel joyful and beautiful.

I’m not talking about dancing at night clubs since I don’t get out much, but dancing at home while cleaning works for me.

I danced with each of my four children when they were babies and while they were growing up. My three daughters and I loved to dance through the house to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”  My son didn’t get into dancing like his sisters did. (He takes after his father.)

Dancing With My Daughters Collage

2002 – Dancing with my daughters at hubby’s 50th birthday party. Best of times!

These days I have five grand-darlings to groove with! Hubby dances with me at wedding receptions and occasions like that, just to make me happy.

Below is a poem I wrote a few years ago. I thought it might be appropriate to add it here for the Beauty of a Woman celebration. Our sense of beauty and self-worth begins long before we become women.

The Dance

I danced as a babe
in lullaby dreams

Danced with lightning bugs
in the stars’ bright beams

I danced in the cold
with a man of snow

Danced in the splendor
of my first rainbow

I danced in my skates
through the crispy breeze

Danced like a mermaid
in the salty seas

I danced with desire
watching birds in flight

And danced and romanced
as he held me tight

Danced to the music
of the moonsong’s spell

Danced to the chimes
of the wedding bell

I danced with my hips
where all life begins

Danced as my babies
grew and danced within

Danced with my children
filled with giggling glee

Danced in the sunset
as I set them free

Danced in the fragrance
of the garden rose

Danced in dewdrop grass
on my tippy-toes

The dance lamented
through voids of despair

Till the dance of hope
wiped away each tear

Danced in the moment
of epiphany

Won’t you join
in the dance with me?

~Lynn Kelley

Here’s a short video from my 60th birthday. My mom and my sister Cindy took me to lunch, but first I got them to dance.

“The moment in between what you once were, and who you are now becoming, is where the dance of life really takes place.”
~Barbara de Angelis

Below, check out the picture I took of Mom when we were celebrating her 80th birthday. She’s holding up the wonderful photo book Cindy gave her. Mom was only 16 in that photo on the cover.

She eloped at age 16 to get away from her evil step-mother. No kidding. My grandma died when Mom was 13.

Dad was 19 when they married. They’ll celebrate their 64th anniversary in July.

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Mom when she as a little girl. What a little darling!

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Marilyn – Still a beauty at 80 years old

Mom has been a beautiful woman (on the inside and outside) for as long as I’ve known her. *grin* She’s a mother of five, grandmother of 16, and great-grandma of 14.

I asked her what makes her feel beautiful. “A lifetime with a large family is real beauty, all the love that’s passed around,” she said. “I’m more beautiful when I’m around my kids and grandkids, doing things, being with them, enjoying them.” She thought a bit longer, then said, “The beauty of a woman is giving birth to a baby.”

How cool that the Beauty of a Woman blogfest is right before Mother’s Day this year. What a perfect time to tell my mom I wish her the best Mother’s Day ever.

Thanks for dancing with me, Mom, and for filling my childhood and my life with fun, laughter, and joyful memories. Love you forever!

 Happy Mom’s Day to all!

Let’s celebrate!

Tap your toes and snap your fingers to your favorite tunes.

Thank you, August McLaughlin,
for hosting the Beauty of a Woman Blogfest.

Go HERE to read the other posts, enter the giveaway
to win prizes, and for more fun and inspiration.

Do you like to dance? What’s your favorite song? What makes you feel beautiful? Do you still feel like a kid no matter how old you are? What are you doing to celebrate Mother’s Day?

If you enjoyed this post, I’d love to have you subscribe to my blog. Just fill in your email address in the “Subscribe” window toward the top of the sidebar. Thank you for stopping by!

 

This entry was posted in Blog Fests, family, Holidays, Poetry, YouTube Video and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

51 Responses to Dance of Life and Girls Just Want to Have Fun – #BOAW16

  1. Lynn, I see who you take after. Your mother! She is just beautiful! And so are you. Well, as you know, I don’t get out much either. But I always danced with my kids and would play music to clean by. It always made the chores fun and helped the time pass, cause who of us love cleaning toilets, right? lol. And I must say that is one awesome poem you wrote. The dance of hope. I love it! I am dancing along with you my friend! So keep on dancing girl! (Great pics of the family Lynn!) 🙂

    • Karen, it’s an honor to dance with you! We have a lot in common. I love the image of rocking out while cleaning the toilet. We can use the toilet brush as our pretend microphone! LOL! Thanks so much for your kind words and for stopping by to dance with me!

  2. Yvette Carol says:

    Gosh, what a great, uplifting post, Lynn!
    There’s so much good stuff here, I don’t know where to start. I know we’ve talked about dancing before, but I’ll say it again – I love to dance, too! The videos were so cute. The pics of you guys dancing at hubby’s 50th were brilliant. 🙂
    Writer, juggler, dancer…I didn’t realize you were a talented poet, as well!
    Also, you’re right, your mother is still beautiful. They always say, when a guy meets a girl, he should look to her mother to see how she’ll turn out when she gets older, in your case, your hubby have nothing to worry about! ha ha 🙂

  3. Susie Lindau says:

    Keep on dancing, Lynn and you’ll always be young.
    Fab post! I can see where you get your great genetics and spirit!

    • Thank you, Susie. It’s always a treat to have you stop in. I’m looking forward to catching up with you soon. My last day of regular babysitting is the end of the month!

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  5. August says:

    Oh, Lynn! This post is so lovely. I absolutely love that you and your loved ones dance together. The poem gave me chills – wow. And those videos! I can’t think of a better way to start my fest reading. 😉

    Thanks so much for participating in #BOAW16! Much love to you and yours.

  6. Lovely! Dancing is so much fun.

  7. Kimberly says:

    I love to dance, too… I’m not so great at it, but I love it anyway… some of my best memories are dancing with my husband, my son, or girlfriends.

    • Hi Kimberly. What’s wonderful about dancing is how it makes us feel. And the memories, yes! Dancing with girlfriends is a blast. Girls just want to have fun! LOL! Thank you for stopping by!

  8. This is such a great tribute to Mom – and to dancing. I love dancing, always did. I usually feel most beautiful fitting back into one of my old pants and being JUST me, dancing with a friend or just working out. My favorite song is nothing to dance to and spread the best mood around. But I LOVE Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days”.

    • Thanks, Aurora. “My favorite song is nothing to dance to and spread the best mood around.” That’s awesome! I like “Glory Days” too. Springsteen is amazing. I can relate to how you feel when you’re able to fit back into an old pair of pants! That’s a really good feeling, for sure. Thanks so much for stopping in.

  9. Loved this. One of my mottos has always been to dance like no one is watching. It cracks my husband up, but it’s hard to not smile. Happy almost Moth Day!

    • I love that motto, Tiffany, and I feel the same way! Awesome that your husband gets a big kick out of watching you let loose. Definitely hard not to smile when we do things like that. Happy Mother’s Day to you, too!

  10. Audrey says:

    This was a great reminder to me! I used to dance so much more. I’m not sure why I’ve gotten away from it, except maybe that my husband isn’t a dancing man–but it sounds like yours isn’t either. And I don’t have daughters to dance with. But I do have girlfriends!

    • Hi Audrey! I think life gets in the way and gets us off track. Yes, dancing with girlfriends makes for the best of times. Lots of laughter and priceless memories. Thank you for visiting!

  11. Aww. Sniff. Now I miss my mom.

    Your mom is precious and beautiful.

    And your poem is fantastic!

    There is so much more I want to say, but I’m choking up because, well, I miss my mom.

    Patricia Rickrode
    w/a Jansen Schmidt

    • Oh, Patricia, I wish I could hug you right now. I dread the day my mom is no longer with us. My heart goes out to you and all those who have lost their mothers. How hard to celebrate holidays when the ones we love to celebrate with have passed on. You’ve got me all choked up, too. XO

  12. Diana Beebe says:

    Lynn, this is such a beautiful post. Dancing is fun and freeing, and I should do more of it. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your dances and your mom’s story. Really lovely!

    • Thanks, Diana. Yes, fun and freeing, that’s a good way to put it. I need to do more of it, too! The serious side of life throws me off. Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Mother’s Day!

  13. Jan Morrill says:

    What an awesome post. I don’t know what I loved more–your poem, your video of you, your sister and mom dancing, or your mom’s thoughts on beauty. And, you’ve inspired me to dance more! Thank you for my first smile of the day. 🙂

  14. Glad you reminded me to dance more often…I live on a sailboat, so dancing while I clean isn’t going to work. I will have to try to fit it into the day somehow. I love dancing to “Holiday”, “We are Family” and “That’s the Way of the World”!

    • Hi Jennifer. Wow, how cool that you live on a sailboat! You made me laugh as I tried to envision dancing while cleaning on a sailboat. Very challenging! LOL! Great songs! I forgot about Green Day. I love their music. I have great memories of dancing to “We Are Family” at wedding receptions with my loved ones. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your favorite songs.

  15. Yes! Yes! Yes! Love dancing! I sometimes think my soul was born to dance. I don’t do it often enough. Thanks for the reminder!

  16. Love the poem, Lynn!! And there is definitely something about dancing that makes us feel so alive. Happy Mother’s Day!!

  17. I love the joie de vivre that shines through in your poem. My family is that way with singing. Although we enjoy dancing, nothing feels more natural that my sister, mom, and I raising our voices up to blend with music.

    My dance song? So many are loved, but nothing got us girls out on the dance floor like AC DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long or Kool & the Gang’s Celebration…

    • Oh my gosh, Kitt, thanks so much! I had to look up the meaning of joie de vivre. I love that expression. I take that as a huge compliment! How awesome that your family sings together. Takes talent to do that! I can see how that would fill you with joy. I think we’d do that, too, if all of us could carry a tune. I love both Celebration and You Shook Me All Night Long. I have many good memories dancing to those songs. Thank you for stopping by!

  18. Lovely post, Lynn. I love your poem and I love your mom! I put a lot of music on for housework (still do), but never really danced to it. But if I can drag my husband into being willing, I love to slow dance in the living room. (He dances, but we don’t go out much anymore and he doesn’t see the point at home.) But I’ll join you in the dance of hope and the dance of life!

    • Thank you, Jennifer! That’s so sweet that your husband will slow dance with you in the living room, even if it’s just every once in a while! Yahoo, thank you for joining me in the dance of life! Yippee!

  19. KM Huber says:

    Great poem, Lynn! There is so much life in your poem. It is such a beautiful expression of how we dance through this incredible experience we’ve all been given: life. There’s a lot of inspiration in this post, Lynn, and I thank you for it. You’ve reminded me that dancing is always just one movement away. 😉
    Karen

    • Thank you, Karen. Well put, “this incredible experience we’ve all been given: life.” That’s what it’s all about! Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing your wisdom!

  20. A fantastic reminder. Thank you!

  21. Jenny Hansen says:

    That poem is marvelous, Lynn! And how are you 60? You honestly don’t look a day over 45…tops. 🙂

    Miss you girlie!!!!!!!!!!!

  22. So Fricken Awesome! I laughed, I cried–it made me remember that I LOVE TO DANCE! Seriously, this post is what I needed to read–I’m usually the happy one, the positive one…but lately, something’s been off. This post helped me remember to do the things I love. So thank you.

    • Oh, Amy, thank you for this comment. I’m so glad this post gave you a boost and reminded you of the things you love to do. I hope you have a blast dancing and listening to music that inspires you. Thank you for stopping in!

  23. Mally Powell says:

    Lynn, What a lovely blog! The poem you wrote is you and the way you’ve dance through life! Thank you for all the wonderful things you wrote about me and my life. The beauty of a women is the deep love she feels in her heart when her children make her so proud, and you have! I’m sure you remember growing up, that when I was cleaning, singing was my fun. I think I spent most of the day singing. Remember when doing dinner dishes, we took turns singing a song that started with the last word of the last song we sung? Bless you my beautiful, talented daughter, I love you! Mom

    • Aw, Mom, now you’ve gone and done it, got me all choked up! Yes, I remember you were always singing. I didn’t inherit your singing voice! Good thing you still played that singing game with me! What a surprise to see your comment here. I love you, Mom. Keep on singing! XOXOX

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  25. I never would’ve imagined you turned 60 this year. Wow! Nice to hear about your family history. I’m a terrible dancer, but it doesn’t stop me! 🙂

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