Thursday - Day 53 - Sneak Peak

We went to see my stepdaughter's dance performance tonight. She is an incredible dancer and I tear up each time I see her perform. She has grown up so much since I first met her and she has gained so much confidence. I wonder how I'll feel in another seven years when she's twenty-one and on her career path.

I personally think she could make a career of dancing, but based on her academics, and her career goals she will most likely follow a different life path.

In tonight's show, I saw a few girls who could pursue dance as a career one day. They were the girls who looked liked naturals on the stage. Then it crossed my mind, what do the girls who are good, but not great do? They have ability and talent, but they aren't the best. Are these the same girls who grow to be older women, the same ones we see at weddings who can bust a move regardless of their age?

John shared an article with me from The Wall Street Journal, "Not Content to Sit on Porch, Florida Retirees Rock On".  It's about the aging baby boomers reliving their youth at dance clubs all across Florida. They are residents and snow birds who are filling the dance clubs, especially during the winter season. These club goers call themselves snow-caps and consider themselves "living" compared to the old folk up north who are only "surviving". They dress in slinky outfits, drink, have fun nicknames and are living it up while they still can.

Babyboomers - Party On!

I imagine they were the vibrant young people in their generation dancing and singing and enjoying their youth.  Today age is only a number and dancing is a state of mind. They don't think they are too old to enjoy life and they are living their lives for the now. Maybe they have found the true fountain of youth, the one that states, if you don't think you've aged, then mentally you haven't.  Dancing is good for the soul and they are proving this.

The baby boomers know they have nothing to lose and many are living the way they wish they lived their entire lives; free and on the edge.  I also suspect many of them always lived a full life and are continuing to do so together at the clubs enjoying their retirement whole heartily.

Regardless of the reason, there is an entire market of club dancers being catered to in Florida, and they are moving and grooving to classic rock, singing their praises loud and clear.  Many of them are also retired living in RV parks during the winter months.  Some will even be my neighbors come fall.

It's an underground dance party.  I wonder if I'll be reliving my own college club days when I'm actually retired one day, not simply pretending.  There's an entire stage of my life I haven't even tapped yet.  I'm sure my children, when they are all grown up, will see me having a good 'ol time while they are restricted to early nights home, taking care of their own children.  I am grinning at this thought.  There is so much to look forward to.  I'm thrilled I get a sneak peak of what will lie ahead, fast forward 25 years.