Laughter Through Tears is My Favorite Emotion

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Last night, after the little girls were in bed, my husband and Gabe decided to play a game of Wii frisbee. Gabe is really good at Wii frisbee and so this is a challenge to my husband. While they were playing, I cleaned up the kitchen, and Nik and Allegra were in the kitchen cleaning up along side me  getting in the way. Nik put his music on his phone, in order to inspire me to clean harder. Note: he was most emphatically NOT helping. He was hindering.

The song was Boom Boom Pow. Black Eyed Peas. Nothing wrong with a little BEP, and it's a good dance tune, yes? We all know it's easier to clean with good music on.

(What's really funny is that when my first kids were younger, I was MUCH more strict with music. I didn't let ANYONE listen to anything that could be remotely racy. Thus, we all listened to Barney and The Wiggles and such. It's amazing how much your life changes when you have grown kids and almost grown teens in your house.)

I do spend an AWFUL lot of time saying things like, "Turn that down! I don't need your sister going to Catholic school singing THAT!" and "Don't teach your brother to say THAT!"

Let me make one thing clear. I am a GOOD dancer. I took dance for a long, long number of years and I have almost no inhibitions while dancing - ESPECIALLY if I'm comfortable with the people I'm dancing with, and we all know that you are at your most comfortable in your home.

So. I was DANCING.

My husband came in to dance with me, and I've gotta tell you, I love the man, and he tries so hard, but he, uh, dances like a white man. His bottom half is pretty planted and he does the white man's overbite like nobody's business. My kids have my ability, especially my boys, although they are a bit more restrained than their mother. So the boys began dancing, and the entire house dissolved in hysterical tears when the older boy began doing a move from the song-I-will-not-name, which contains the lyrics "back, back, back it up!"

Yeah. It was like that.

And then my daughter, so loveable, and so clueless, said, "OH! I thought back it up, back it up was talking about driving your car! And parking! You mean that's not what the song is about?"

I laughed so hard I stopped breathing. And most probably wet my pants just a bit.

And then, of course, someone sensitive - not the misinformed child, but a different one - thought we were laughing at THAT individual, and the next five minutes consisted of wiping tears, hugging, reassuring, and laughing under my breath any time I remembered a) the comment b) the vision of my husband performing HIS version of "club dancing" c) the sight of my kids breaking down and d) the realization that this, indeed, is the reality of life in my house.

Loud. Irreverant. Frequently off color. Music. Always music. Laughter. Hurt feelings from misunderstandings. And dancing.

Always dancing.

I can see, maybe, that my kids may very well chose to elope when they marry rather than see me on the dance floor.

These are the moments that my family is made of.

Comments

[kyooty]

Isn't it great to have such a fabulous mix?

[superpaige]

So sweet!

[Tammy]

Love this! I can picture this all and it is apparent that it's a happy home. I've always envied you your dancing ability. :)

[Nicki]

My two younger boys will dance (and pretty darn well) when they think no one is watching, but both of them get horrified looks on their faces and beg me to stop dancing when they see me. For the record, I am not a horrible dancer, but for whatever reason they think moms are not supposed to dance. Silly boys. :)

[Brenda Diggs]

Love this! Thanks for sharing the moment!
Keep this in your heart when those hard times come up! :)

[WendyS]

My son loves to dance. I remember when we were in the store once and he was 7 or 8 and he just started to dance to a song that was playing. He looked up at me and said, "Mom, sometimes you just gotta dance!" I agreed with him then and I still do.

[Elizabeth]

I love dancing but don't do it very often and am not that good. I do dance and be silly with Charlie but he doesn't like to dance with me. He will dance on his own which is fine. My husband can out white boy dance yours I bet!

Charlie hates it when he "thinks" we're laughing at him, like the situation above, despite us telling him that we are most definitely not. He gets really upset with us.

[Brandy]

Aww, great moment! Thanks for sharing it!

[Kate@SurroundedbyPenises]

Very fun and relatable!

[Beth]

I also took many years of dance and my hubby is painfully awful, yet always trys. But, we discovered during a great trip to New York City with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, that, if you drink enough vodka, EVERYONE CAN DANCE - even Scott!!! We now don't let him out on the dance floor until he's had a two drink minumun - and I've had at least that many so I really don't care how he dances :)

[HolyMama!]

THAT is an awesome snapshot of what your family is. WOW.

[Kitchen]

Great blog.
Thanks
Jocelyn

[Lesli]

There are several BEP songs that I'll throw on while doing stuff in the kitchen, and something about them will inspire everyone to bust out some "robot" dance moves...husband included (as long as he doesn't have to move his feet, he can maintain something recognizable as "dancing"...kind of ;)). I can hardly teach the associated routines in class without laughing at the memories, so my classes all know something about what goes on here, and want my DH to come to class sometime to show his stuff. (Not likely, but I'm working on it.) It's hard not to have fun when some lively music is playing.

[UKCraftySal]

I was about to write what Brenda Diggs wrote above...She's right. A lovely moment.