It is Better to Have Danced, Than to Have Never Danced at All

I was only a small child when my father told me to go ahead and dance if I wanted to. It was a family gathering, lots of relatives with music filling the air and my tiny toes were tapping but no one was dancing. I wanted to dance but there was no one on the dance floor.

"Go ahead, someone has to start - it might as well be you," it was simple encouragement, really, but to a young girl like me, daddy knew best. I remember dancing with all of my heart and soul. I haven't stopped dancing yet.

As we listened to American Idol recently and the two singers who attempted to do justice to Lee Ann Womack's, I Hope You Dance, I was reminded of my father and his gentle encouragement for me to hit the dance floor.

Part of the lyrics read like a life lesson,

"I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat

But always keep your hunger."

Hunger is essential for conquering most of what life throws in our direction. There needs to be more hunger for this life, more of wonder and excitement in simple moments as it will aid in accomplishing that which seems impossible or improbable. We need to be hungry more often - it is the state from which dreams are born and adversaries are conquered. A hungry and thirsty mind will quench the thirst by seeking to discover and uncover all the mysteries of life. A hungry belly will work with such gusto that no job, no mountain will appear insurmountable.

"I hope you dance." Such a simple statement that encompasses everything in life that is worth living.

"Living might mean taking chances

But they're worth taking

Lovin' might be a mistake

But it's worth making."

Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote a famous poem in 1850 that said,

"I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all."

In other words, had he not danced he would have missed the romance.

I hope you never miss the opportunity to dance.

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2SfmcNg8js

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/62650.html