Beat It

Last Friday night, my 5yo son went to his first dance. Having just started kindergarten this year, let's just say that I wasn't prepared for the notification of a school dance through our kindergarten newsletter. I really didn't know if he'd want to go, so I just sort of played it by ear. Come Friday night, he wanted to go. For sure.

He wanted to wear these lace-up black dress shoes that he'd worn as a "flower boy" to my best friend's wedding last fall, with his Bermuda-looking shorts and white socks. They didn't fit anymore and so we settled on his black Converse instead. On his own motivation, he brushed his teeth and combed his hair. When we got there, shortly after 6pm, he wanted to hold the three dollars it took to get in and hand it to the money-takers.

Once inside, it was packed with mostly older kids. Straight away, however, he saw his "girl. friend." Madison. She is adorable, soft-spoken, and likes Thomas, but sometimes looks at him like he's crazy. He goes and sits next to her and her mom. I sat beside him.

He'd gotten tickets to purchase lemonade, candy, beef jerky, you know ... all the stuff at a kid-dance. He went and got candy all by himself and came back and sat in between me and Madison.

It didn't take long and he was out on the dance floor without looking back. I loved that. He's so not afraid, even being one of the youngest there. He ran around, got his break-dance on all by himself and then when "YMCA" came on, he tried to do that, too.

After he'd done the Limbo with a line of kids that stretched the length of the cafeteria, I thought he'd be ready to go home. We were getting ready to leave when the rest of the kids started toward the stage to get a spot for the dance contest. Apparently this is a big deal, because all the older kids had routines planned, matching outfits, etc., except for the few brave souls that decided to go it alone.

I saw that Thomas and Madison were sitting next to each other (so cute!), and so I got my camera back out. After about 15 dance numbers had gone, I realized that Thomas had a slip of paper with the number 17 on it. He and Madison had decided to do a dance, completely spontaneously and unpracticed to the first 60 seconds of "Beat It".

(Madison is the cutie in pink in the front of the pic and Thomas is the one with his feet in the air. My camera had been in my purse and the focus had been bumped and was WAY off. No matter, you get the idea.)

OH. MY. WORD.

Just when I think that kid is more like his dad, he goes and dances to Michael Jackson, in kindergarten, at his first school dance. (See, I did that too, dance to some MJ in a talent show, but I didn't have the nerve to do it until my senior year of high school!)

I rushed to get a spot toward the front of the crowd, knelt down in a good spot, and then it was their turn. I watched Madison do some graceful ballerina-type moves as Thomas did his version of break-dancing, which includes, semi-cartwheels in the air, spinning on his back and trying to do a headstand-spin. If only I'd had all that on video! They actually got some pretty big claps from the crowd, which made me smile for him.

I high-fived him, double high-fived him and then picked him up and swung him around. I am so glad he still lets me do that.

He's getting so big. These days he's all about telling me scientific facts. He adds and subtracts out of nowhere, sitting in the back of the car looking out the window. He tells me about how pipes work underground (correctly, too!) and ... he still likes to curl up in my lap, take my face in his hands to kiss my lips and he still likes for me to lay with him at night to read a book and talk about his day. I know he knows that I love him, but if he only knew how much I love him ...

These last few days since the dance I just can't seem get that image of him off my mind. It was one of those completely unexpected moments that changed my perception of him forever. My kid danced to Michael Jackson.

It was simple. It was undiluted. It was a moment in time that I'll never forget.