So, the world is on fire, but all I want to do is dance with you.

We were victims of the night,

The chemical, physical, kryptonite

Helpless to the bass and the fading light-

Welcome to the world, it's a harsh, cold and often cruel place. At least, the world that man has created on what and in what the creator- be it a primordial super being or a scientific phenomenon on the galactic scale made for us. In short, you are born here (probably), you will live here (however shortly), and chances are you'll die here (if you don't I want to know).

Life is HARD. It is almost never easy. It may look easy for some but usually, those people are faking it. 

What to do about it?

I think that for many of us, escapism is key.

She took my arm,

I don't know how it happened.

We took the floor and she said,

"Oh, don't you dare look back.

Just keep your eyes on me."

I said, "You're holding back,"

She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"

(walk the moon credit)

[www.azlyrics.com]

This woman is my destiny

She said, "Ooh-ooh-hoo,

Shut up and dance with me."

I confess. I can't dance like that. I am a big guy who is clumsy and awkward and kind of shy.

I do my best dancing in my daydreams. Turn on some music and my mind whirls away to nightclubs that aren't packed, to dance studios with low lighting and good sound, to a park where there are flat spaces and no one to say "stay off the grass."

Add someone who is needing  an emotional release- usually a pretty or beautiful girl or woman, but not always, in my mind- I have danced with all kinds of humans and a few cats. Add the music, the music you want to dance to. I always have certain songs or musical numbers in mind. Certain songs that when I hear them- my mind slides away to one of those dance spaces. As long as the song lasts, we dance.

Somebody out there in the real world asks why I have a dreamy smile and a glazed look every once in a while, but I ignore them. 

I do know how to dance, just truly never had the opportunity to pursue it. Well, that's not quite true.

"Una vida vivida en el miedo es una vida media duración."

Fran: A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.

So, this morning as I was catching up on the news and social media, and Trump was sharing his latest bit of self-congratulatory wisdom, my mind slipped away to a world far simpler and I danced with the King of Siam and did the two-step with Debi Reynolds.

Sometimes, I run away to this place of dreams where there is a foregone pattern to daily movement. A place where dancing can solve problems, crises, and likewise disasters. Where Michael Jackson can end gang violence with a group line dance or Weird Al can exhort Mac 'n Cheese over Pinto Beans.
Sometimes, I have to take a mental departure and go for a groove across the dance floor of my mind. Finding my red shoes and low rider socks, a pair of slacks, white shirt, and a poodle skirt, grab a girl and do some hand jive all the time ignoring the angry tweet wars that play out behind me as I wait for the jury selection to begin.

Escapism is key to maintaining balance in my work with play. When I am dancing in my mind, I am writing the next story, feeling the wonder of movement. This is how I escape.
and that is Life and Dancing according to Mike...
ps. I know I need a dance partner.