Since returning from my vacation, I have been wading through all the things that can stack up over a week’s time. Emails. Phone calls. Things you forgot to do before you left. Meetings. Laundry. You get the picture. So, I haven’t made it to this space in my regular fashion. The time just seemed to get away from me.

Now that I have taken care of most of those things, I want to pass on something I observed today. I was driving down the very busy Hennepin Avenue to meet a friend for a long-planned birthday lunch. Half listening the radio, I was reveling in the absolute beauty of this summer day. The cooler temperatures have moved in, making the sunny skies, the green of the grass and trees and colors of flowers even more brilliant than ever. It was one of those days when I actually thought to remind myself: “It  is good to be alive.” Very good.

Apparently I was not the only person who thought this. As I stopped at the stoplight on Hennepin & Franklin, I noticed the black car in the lefthand lane facing me. This car, headed north on Hennepin, had its blinker on to turn left at this busy intersection, always a tricky maneuver. The driver’s car door was open and the driver was standing on the median waiting for the light to turn green. The driving was dancing! Right there for all the world to see! I watched as he grooved to the left and then the right. He snapped his fingers and twirled around. Michael Jackson-like. He jived first one way and then the other. He had the wonderful ability some people do of being able to swivel his head and neck in an amazing circular fashion. I could just faintly hear the beat he was hearing from his radio as it wafted across the airwaves toward my car. Its rhythm made my talk radio seem pretty dull.

Some people were crossing the street and chose to look down, trying to ignore this flight of fancy dancing. The woman whose car idled by mine furrowed her brow as she continued to talk on her phone. I wondered how they could not be taken in by this man, moved to dance, as he passed the time waiting for the light to change. He was a good dancer. He was enjoying himself. He was providing all of us with something ‘you won’t see every day’ , as the saying goes. Why not drink it in in all its fullness?

This dancing man was, after all, just making good use of what can feel like idle time. Sitting at a stoplight. Waiting to move from red to green. I have a friend who keeps a book on the front seat and reads at stoplights. While this might be safer, it certainly doesn’t seem as much fun as dancing.

Watching him, I thought of that quote attributed to William W. Purkey . It urges us to stay in tune with the zest for life:
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”

On this particular August day, with the sun shining down and traffic whizzing by, I was thankful for someone who had the courage to jump out of his car and dance. It was a good use of his time and a little reminder of another heavenly day.