Chaos. It is just absolute chaos getting there. I’m sitting in a car stuffed with all of my friends. I’m so glad I took the edge off with those few drinks before we left. My heart is racing and my hands are sweaty, I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. Maybe I had a little too much to drink. The car is moving at a snail pace in the gridlock traffic. We should have left sooner but there’s always time for just one more drink. I wish we were there already. Looking ahead of the traffic I can see where we need to be and I try to push the line of cars forward with my mind. Our car crawls closer. We decide we are close enough to walk the rest of the way and all hop out before the car comes to a complete stop. Oh shit, did I leave something in the car? I do the preemptive security pat down and mental checklist. Purse? ID? Wristband? Check, check, check. As expected the line is long. Time is flying by as the line inches forward. Come on, come on. ID check, wait in line. Wristband scan, wait in another line. Bag check, waiting. In. Another. Line. Security pat down. And we’re in. We’re in!
Everything goes still as I walk through the gates. It doesn’t matter which gates I’ve walked through and how many times I’ve been through them. As soon as I’m free I can’t help but smile and feel goosebumps as a breeze pulls me forward. I hear the music rushing over to greet me and the lights beckoning me over.
Standing in the crowd, I close my eyes for a moment to take it all in. I feel the pounding of the bass. There is a slight pause in my breath as I wait for the next wave of vibrations, leaning forward in anticipation. The bass hits again, sending a ripple through my body. The urge to sway with the beat is so driving I can only give in. I lift my chin just as my knees begin to join the thousands of others around me as they bounce, and I open my eyes. My gaze is pulled first to the stage, then the lights, then the sea of people around me.
The feeling of contentment washes over me. I begin to forget my worries of responsibility- bills, work, family, society. The music continues to drive me to jump and sway, calling me to dance to its beat. My body moves, sharing what my heart is trying to sing. The sense of togetherness follows as I take in all the people around me. Whether friends or strangers, it doesn’t matter. Once the music drops, we become family—dancing and smiling together.
We are all on different paths. Some of us work at hospitals, others at restaurants, schools or for ourselves. Some of us always follow the rules while others were born to break them. We may sleep with someone we know we shouldn’t, or work in a job we hate. We fight, we cry, and we dream. But on the dance floor- We are one. We are together. And we are loved.
The magic about music is it unites us. We don’t have to be interested in the same artist or genre to understand. When we watch someone dancing to music they love, we can still recognize the magic and we know that feeling. The vibrations that music creates are like ripples growing in water, we may not be in the same ring, but we are still connected, sharing the same pool. We can respect what music brings out of each of us, we are reminded of what it can do. We smile, knowing we are happy in that moment.
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