Eye of the Tiger

We were driving back to the house, after an evening of fun in West Palm Beach. The kids were in the back seat, headphones on, listening to their respective favorites on their mp3 players (thank you, grandparents, for the Christmas present). This left the radio dial free for us adults. We hit the jackpot when found a station playing all of the cheesy '80's songs that I haven't heard in ages. The kids kept reminding us that we had the volume too high, as the radio in the car was disturbing their own songs. *Note to self: exercise a little self-control, no matter how good the song is, I am still a parent. Or not. 

A few songs down the road, "The Eye of the Tiger" starts playing, and I see Rocky Balboa running up those steps in Philadelphia. That doesn't last long, soon I am about 10, in a back office room of a house where I grew up, talking one of my best friends into putting on a leotard (shiny, royal blue, with little capped sleeves, like in those Jazzercise videos) and possibly some legwarmers. I want to choreograph a routine to this song, because that would be awesome!  

I was a dancer. I loved to dance. All the time, I still do. I move when there is music on, and if I have to be still, I am choreographing in my head (usually there are pointe shoes and a lot of pirouettes involved, I don't know why). 

The thing is, that friend of mine, she was an athlete, a tomboy. She was great at anything competitive. Every sport we played as kids, she excelled at them. She scored the goals on the soccer team, ran all the bases in Little League, she could even pick up a game controller, and hop that frog across the street in no time, without getting flattened by a truck. The strategy, reflexes, cool headed calculating, it seemed to come easily to her. She instinctively knew what to do.  

She was not a dancer. She did not own a leotard, let alone a pair of legwarmers. It is not that she was a bad dancer, but it was last on her list of things to do. Getting her to dance with me, that was a rarity. But she did it. I don't remember any of the moves we did, or even who saw it (our parents? certainly not our brothers! Maybe no one), but I do remember that it was a blast, and as I was driving down the road, "The Eye of the Tiger" not really blaring from the car speakers, I kept seeing the look on her face, both of us laughing, as she humored me. A very good memory.

In many ways, this trip has been a trip down memory lane for me. With all of the new things we have done and learned, there are still things that jump up and remind me of days past, that I haven't remembered for such a long time. Though we are in a very different area here than where I grew up, being in Florida again, I realize there are things here I had forgotten, and now I am having a good time remembering.  

Though that friend and I do not keep in daily contact, our lives have taken us in different directions, we do keep in touch, and I hope she knows she is one who I will cherish, wherever we are, and I am always happy to see her again.