Is There Life After Retirement?

Like it or not, “Disco” was an experience shared by many of us in the late 70s, early 80s. Some of the songs were great (Donna Summer, Thelma Houston) and some were ridiculous (I’m looking at you, Disco Duck). But my favorite part was a phenomenon that happened in every disco, in every state. Picture this:

The Club is busy. People are drinking, laughing, talking. Some are dancing, others just watching it all. Then the sound system plays the recognizable keyboard run, following by Gloria Gaynor talk/singing “At first I was afraid, I was petrified, thinking I could never live without you by my side” while the percussion comes in with that heavy disco beat until Gloria begins really belting out I Will Survive. And by that time, the dance floor is full – of WOMEN! Oh, there’d be a few intrepid males dancing but mostly – I think we scared them. We danced, stomped, sang along with Gloria with focused determination – “Go on and go, turn around now and walk out that door, you’re not welcome anymore”- exorcising every break up, heartbreak or bad date to the best of our ability – for the whole 4 minutes and 56 seconds. Then we went back to our seats. Tired and happy. For years I thought of this as a rite of passage, frozen in the disco era.

So why am I writing about this now? Is something going on in my life that’s relevant? Nope. It’s because a thing just happened: A couple of hours ago, while queued up at Moo Moo Car Wash, I was listening to my Spotify playlist titled “Here Me Roar” and just as I was passing through the gate, I Will Survive came on my radio. Of course I cranked it to 11 and even though my windows were closed, I imagine most of Franklin County could hear it. As I pull up the the wash, a late 20s employee was waving her arms, directing my tires into the track. But then I realized she was also kind of swaying her body back and forth. Odd? Oh wait, she was upper body dancing to Gloria! So I grinned and did the same from inside my car and she grinned back. About then the office person, a 50ish woman, walked by and starting singing “I’ve got my life to live and all my love to give, I will survive, I will survive!” So for about half a minute, all three of us were boogeying along with Ms. Gaynor. It was the most fun thirty seconds of my day.

I guess some things are timeless…