I don't know if it's a sign of getting older or what. I like to think not. These 'cop' parties used to come every year and now they're held only every two or three years. At one time, they were fun. It was a once year thing. We'd get all dressed up, enjoy a few cocktails, the guys would stand around and slap each other on the back, and the women would talk about each other. Then there was the dancing. We never waited for the guys to get out there, because, basically, they never would. I mean come on. Mr. DJ would spin a little Brick House and there was just no stopping us! I was right out there bustin' it with the best of them! That's right. I tore IT up with my 80's moves.
Fast forward 20 years later. So I'm having a conversation with really the only wife I know. She, too, has been in the trenches like me. There we are, in the midst of the DJ playing very bad "dance" music (Margaritaville. Seriously?). Marty is standing over by the bar doing the guy thing. Before I know it, he's standing over me, beer in hand, and wants to dance. What?!?? Nobody is dancing. For the love of Pete, Lady Marmalade (the original version) is playing and now he has decided to become a dancing machine? The reality was he felt responsible for the success of this party and he wanted to break the ice. But, at my expense! I was sober. Don't get me wrong. I can get my freak on, but I just wasn't feeling it. And, when you try to get your freak on without anything to back it up (or at least a few drinks under your belt), that's when your freak could potentially turn into that old lady shoulder shrug thing. A risk I wasn't yet willing to take.
As it turned out, a couple of party crashers broke the proverbial ice. Phew. That bought me some time to belly up to the bar and throw back at least one cocktail. Oh, I danced a few, but I never really found my freak. Even after one of the guys requested "Stayin' Alive" for Marty . . . that still didn't do it. Sure, I had a couple of moments, like when Low Rider came on. I kinda found a little bit o' freak there.
Call it age, call it sobriety, call it fear of falling into the shoulder shrug category . . . I don't know. It's like I never really had to worry about my freak. It was just there. Is this what happens as we get older? We lose our freak? I guess this is the time in our lives that we have to stop and ask ourselves those deep, meaning-of-life questions, like should I just give in, call it a day, and perfect my shoulder shrug? And to that I say, "mmm . . . gitchi gitchi ya ya da da . . . gitchi gitchi ya ya here . . ."