Dance with me

When I was a kid, dad used to take me along his work on rare occasions where he would have to travel along our little island inspecting the smaller branches of the company he works for. Those were my most favourite times. I'd be sitting on the back of the car just watching the landscape go by and day dream about all the nice hills and the dainty and homey cottages that we'd pass through to get to our destination. Sometimes we'd stop by a town market to buy local delicacies and eat them while driving.

That was the most fun that I have, especially when we'd end up driving all the way to the early evening when the sun would begin to set. Cue in the song by Orleans: Dance with me

The song would begin on its beautifully-strummed metallic note from an acoustic guitar, telling you all about country music just by putting in the chords in it. Usually that track was the 30th to 50th song dad had kept in his CD player (we didnt have bluetooth speakers then) and the world that I'd be seeing would suddenly change for something more wild and colorful; the sunset would suddenly turn redder than fire and I would begin to imagine butterflies, birds, bees, and dragonflies would magically appear when the song begins, beckoning me to dance with them, to just run along and jump around and just simply enjoy the fresh and unpolluted air. For the rest of the early song the sunset would be so alive it would feel like i was living on top of a hill, a king of my own little world.

Somehow the song would always end when the sun had almost completely set and the sky was deep hue of blue amd purple, tinged with a bit of red. And just like that I would've spent all my energy imagining those vivid imaginations going along and dancing to the rhythm of the song.

Tired, I would climb into my dad's big round belly and hug him. Before I knew it, I was sound asleep. Id then wake up as the car enters the city again, and the song would play again (dad sometimes adds two different version of the same song into one playlist) and I would see the stars shining oh so bright through the dark night.

After that I would close my eyes and dream of my vivid adventure with dad.

Well, dad passed away last February, and I had forgotten about this song when I chanced upon it again. You can imagine the tears welling up in my eyes when I began recalling that memory of my childhood. The nostalgic feeling came with it a beautiful revelation though... I remember now: I was never alone during my little daydreamed imaginations, I was dancing with a beautiful woman, and that woman I knee I was in love with. I know she was just a dream, but maybe now that Im an adult I would see that memory once more and remember the detail of that woman, but despite that, despite having my fun, I would always go back to my father, my big bellied, round, fat, jolly and ever so loving father, and I feel like theres a lesson there somewhere, maybe connected to family, I forgot.

Then again, I don't mind the forgotten lesson, Im just simply happy to remember my father.

This is for you dad, I love you.

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