It’s alright to let loose

The quietness became frightening. As I took a moment to relax, I realized that I hadn’t heard from the girls in a while. What made the silence even worse was the fact that the girls had one of their friends over for a visit. What had originally been planned as a brief sleepover between three friends had blossomed into a three-day and two-night affair, all because of a snowstorm which decided to drop six inches of snow and ece on us. Our location and the girls’ lack of concern led to added days of fun and play for the little ones and pure exhaustion for us bigger ones.

The weekend had included a wide array of fun activities including musical jam sessions, anime cosplay, singing, playing in the snow, and generally harassing anything that crossed the girls’ paths, namely our two cats and poodle. For my wife and I, the time was rather laid back. Growing to the early teenage cycle of life, the girls and their friends are rather self-sufficient so for us adults, we were only along for the occasional feeding, refereeing and keeping the sisters from killing each other, as usual.

This was precisely why the silence was so concerning. As the prolonged silence piqued my interest, I decided it was time to investigate. Concerned, as every parent would be when the house full of children grows silent, and yet determined not to poke the proverbial bear and be forced to actually do something, I accessed the home’s security camera system. What appeared on the downstairs camera was like nothing I had experienced before.

As the picture came into focus, I realized why no sounds were being heard. Seated around the laid-out training mat which had been placed on the floor were two of the girls. Wondering what the girls were watching that had evidently intoxicated them, causing them to remain speechless, seated criss-cross applesauce with their mouths slightly opened, my questions were then answered. With grace and silent beauty, the third child entered the frame.

With moves I can only describe as some form of interpretive dance, the child jumped from one side of the frame to the other, hands flowing, legs bounding as if she was performing on a Broadway stage before millions. With each backwards bend, leap into the air, and flowing hand gesture my teeth clinched tighter and tighter, doing my best to control my jaws urge to drop. It wasn’t that the dance wasn’t good, nor was it, but it was the evident battle between whatever the child was fighting and the other girls’ lack of movement that was interesting. Did the girls fear that moving would unleash whatever was controlling the other child, or were they simply feeling the dance? I don’t know but one thing I am sure of was that as I quietly turned off the camera, I couldn’t even bring what I had just watched to my wife’s attention out of either my confusion as to what I had just witnessed or the utter feeling of deep-seated laughter that was desperately trying to come out.

Although I still haven’t dared to ask the kids what was going on downstairs that day, one thing I know for sure is that this child was definitely getting her dance on and feeling her joy, an action which before long was reciprocated by the other two girls. I have never seen any of these children do this type of thing before and to be honest, I wish I had. For someone to feel so free that they can dance and simply be themselves is a great thing. To witness that release is an honor. To watch some of the children silently sit, and watch was a confirmation for the original dancing child. I wonder how refreshing it would be to let loose and just dance, feeling the breeze flow through our fingertips?

Don’t worry my friends, you won’t see Big Rick getting his interpretive dance on in public, anytime soon.  But even if you did, it may be pretty good, and you may want to join in. Let loose from time to time my friends, it may just do your mind some good.

Richard J. Stephens lives in Carter County and is the father of three little ladies ranging in age from 12 to 33.