Belly Dancing into my next year of life...

One week from Sunday, I will turn 43. That is fact and not fiction. I also realize that I am more fortunate than others when it comes to physical health and stamina in my age group...since the obesity epidemic has hit the West with both barrels. I have often looked at my birthdays as my New Year's Day...of what I want to do. Not that I have to wait until that day approaches on the calendar to start something new, but it is a time for me to reflect on what I haven't done yet....that I have wanted to do. That thought propelled me into a belly dancing studio.

As I was on my way to work, I happened to pause and look up...and see the unmistakable silhouette of a belly dancer that stopped me cold. All day long I waited for the day to be over with...not because it was the start of a weekend...but the start of something else. On the surface, this could be about just staying young...but isn't it really just a mindset. I do things all of the time that people say I should be able to do 'at my age'. Most of the time I find it is because other people just won't do those things for themselves.
Yes, an American in Korea, taking belly dancing lessons....at an age when most have settled. I have committed to five months of lessons before I depart. The instructor doesn't speak a word of English, but I smiled. That doesn't matter. Dance is a language of the body. A universal one.

Somehow we manged to communicate all of the details to each other, concentrating on the other 70 percent of communication. I made a new friend today...who will be my teacher. If you want to look young...move...do...LIVE. This is more potent than any plastic surgery or shot of botox. I don't care what the calendar says...life is about doing everything you said you would.

Now, to master the dance of the seven veils.