The Evolution of [Mom] Dance

The weekend finally approached!  Time to find my cutest outfit, favorite shoes, do my hair and makeup just so, and head out!  As long as the DJ is good, it doesn't matter where we go; it's time to dance.  The moves are simple, just kind of shake it and sway side to side, drink a vodka-cranberry (or just a cranberry if we're at the college dances) and scan the area for the best looking guys...

Fast forward six years.

Whoop!  The night is finally here!  Time to put on my favorite, pink and gray pants, best pink tank top, throw my hair up in some sort of messy concoction on my head, and lace up my favorite....Asics! Or Nike's if I am feeling really ambitious.  Wait.  Isn't that how everyone hits the club?  It is if you're super cool and spend your monthly "clubbin" night doing Zumba at the sort of dance club in small town Missouri. Like everything else, my dance moves have evolved as I have entered motherhood as well.  They are definitely NOT cooler, but I am cooler, because unlike six years ago, I really could care less what anyone thinks of my moves.

About every other month on the last Friday, the "dance club" in town opens the doors only for the ladies and guys who take Zumba classes from our local instructor.  We spend about two solid hours Zumbaing our butts off.  It's pretty awesome!  Make fun of Zumba all you want, I sure did in my pre-marriage, pre-children days, but that stuff is hard work!  It's a great workout and it is a lot of fun.  Now, I never said I was good at Zumba.  Watching me is like watching a drunken octopus do ballet on an icy stage, but I don't care!  It's fun, and I probably am a hoot to those who watch me.  Luckily, my friends and I are all about the same level of Zumba greatness, so sometimes its like watching seven drunk octopus's do their thing on the dance floor.

I have never been big on dirty or sexually explicit dancing.  I don't so much care if other people do it, I just know I don't physically move that way.  This is coming from the person who went to quite a few college dances dressed in a banana suit.  Twerking didn't "werk" for this person.  I can't even begin to think how to make my body do that!  I am not that good.  Know what I can do? I can do the best sprinkler you have ever seen, an amazing shopping cart, and I am not too shabby at the lawnmower or driving the bus.  Sometimes I just kind of move around for no reason in time with the music.

But the best part about evolving the the "mom dances" isn't the fact that someday I will use my killer moves to totally embarrass my "too cool for mom" teens (although that's a close second), it's that I just don't care anymore.  When we go have fun dancing I'm not trying to find some cute guy, I've got that back at home (and he is REALLY cute, guys).  I no longer care what other people will think about me, I don't even care if anyone notices I exist!  I'm there to spend time with some of my best friends!  We just want to get our Zumba on, grab our one free drink, dance a couple songs, and then get Taco Bell on the way home--because we clearly burned enough calories to do so, right?  It's all about balance.  So the next time you're out on the town, and see some weird lady in workout clothes mowing the lawn or doing the funky chicken or completing the best sprinkler you have EVER witnessed, just yell "Hey Courtney!" I'll wave!  I'll probably come make you dance with me too, but I will definitely wave.