Car Dancing. Road Trips.

I suggest going on road trips. Whether they are planned or unplanned makes no difference. Just get in your car, turn on some tunes, start dancing and get on the road. Road trips alone are fine. Road trips with your dog is magical. Road trips with people you love are also magical. On one such road trip, I listened to “Jack and Diane” by John Cougar Mellencamp, “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty, “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen and “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac. They’re all sing-a-longs and they are all fun. So we decided to sing; and we decided to dance.

“Oh yeah life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin’ is gone
Oh yeah say life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin’ is gone, they walk on

Gonna let it rock
Let it roll
Let the Bible belt come down
And save my soul
Hold on to sixteen as long as you can
Changes come around real soon
Make us women and men”

I fell in love when I was 17 years old in Indiana. I never forgot that feeling, and still carry it with me today. I’ve chased that feeling ever since; and have known for a very long time, that whoever I am destined to the spend the rest of my life with, I will because I’d found that feeling again.

“Well I started out down a dirty road
Started out all alone
And the sun went down as I crossed the hill
And the town lit up, the world got still

I’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing

I’m learning to fly, around the clouds
But what goes up (learning to fly) must come down”

Over the years, I’d met this person and that person, wondering if any of them would be part of my ultimate destiny. I remember the moment I met each of them, how they looked and acted, parts of our conversations, and how I felt. I was learning to fly, and with each I got higher and higher. Sometimes I got too close to the sun. Falling down inevitably became a good thing, though at the time was painful to say the least. But each time, no matter who, when, where or why, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and started walking again. Eventually, I ran. And then I began to fly.

“Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people
Living just to find emotion
Hiding somewhere in the night

Working hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin’ anything to roll the dice
Just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on, and on, and on”

I learned more and more what it was like to be with someone — the good, the bad and the ugly. While I remember all of them with a certain level of fondness, I always knew when each ended, they were meant to end, no matter what the shared experience. Until I met her, of course.

“I’m a shooting star leaping through the skies
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I’m a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I’m gonna go go go
There’s no stopping me

I’m burning through the sky yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That’s why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I’m trav’ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man out of you…

I’m a rocket ship on my way to Mars
On a collision course
I am a satellite I’m out of control
I am a sex machine ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to
Oh oh oh oh oh explode

I’m burning through the sky Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That’s why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I’m trav’ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you”

With each one, “I was havin’ a ball.” I knew however, that the person I was destined to meet would change my life in ways I could never have imagined, open me up to feelings I have never felt, share experiences I would have never had the courage to live. And it all began with a smile.

“All I want is to see you smile
If it takes just a little while
I know you don’t believe that it’s true
I never meant any harm to you

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here
It’ll be, better than before,
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone”

And with that, the weekend was over, but was never forgotten. I knew that this particular weekend, like no other would have an impact on my ultimate destiny in ways that I could not even fathom at the time.