I Hope You Dance

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens

Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Livin’ might mean takin’ chances, but they’re worth takin’

Lovin’ might be a mistake, but it’s worth makin’

Don’t let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter

When you come close to sellin’ out, reconsider

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance (Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)

I hope you dance

I hope you dance (Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)

I hope you dance (Where those years have gone?)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens

Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance (Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)

I hope you dance (Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder?)

Songwriters: Tia Sillers / Mark Sanders

I love this song and always tear up when I hear it. I wish someone had encouraged me to be and do whatever my heart led me to do when I was growing up. But sometimes growing up means just surviving from one day to the next. And so I did. I have had to learn as a late stage adult that I really can be and do what I want when I grow up.

Follow your dreams and do what makes your heart sing. If I had known then what I know now, my life would have taken a much different path but of course I might not be where I am now if I did things differently…or maybe I would have arrived a lot sooner.

There are things about my life I wouldn’t change. My family, both nuclear and extended, is filled with an eclectic array of personalities and talents and I love each and every one of them.

I wish as a child, I would have been encouraged to participate in sports or other fitness activities but in those days, girls were not necessarily pushed in that direction or given many opportunities. Thank you Title IX.

If, as a young person, I had some insight into what makes me happy now I may have taken a different educational path. That’s not to say that I didn’t have a very successful career for thirty years but it never really inspired me like health and nutrition coaching does. My thirty year career made it possible for me to retire early and do what I like . But if I had been doing what I like all along, I never would have needed to retire, because what I do I don’t consider work.

Life is a journey. If you find something that you really love to do, make your own path. Don’t wait for someone to tell you it’s okay because that permission may never come. Don’t be what someone else tells you to be. You’re the one who has to live with that decision so make it yours. And when given the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.