The Morning After One

Sunday in December, specifically December 25th, 2011 I remember waking up that morning and rushing downstairs. I found nothing but wrapping paper on the floor. My sister had opened her Christmas presents before my family had gotten ready. We hadn’t even started our traditions yet. We sing happy birthday to our father, say what we’re thankful for, and then proceed to open up presents in a youngest-to-oldest fashion. And she just ripped apart her stuff. She couldn’t wait.

So once that was dealt with and we all opened our presents, I got a hold of my new gifts The PlayStation Move and with it, my new game, Just Dance 3. It was so much fun for me. However it was cut short that day because my dad was invited to a church to speak, which meant we all had to go. What was supposed to be the story, “Oh, my son couldn’t make it. He’s enjoying his Christmas presents?” “He’s busy dancing?” “Priorities?” From 12:00pm that day to 3:00am that night we were out of the house. Away from my room. Away from the television. Away from the console. Away from Just Dance. All day the songs were stuck in my head from the theme “Just Dance” to “Forget You”. Now, “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green was a really good song. I enjoyed it. So when we were in the car, and I was given the aux cord I chose “Forget You.”  I had only listened to it on the game. I hadn’t realized that the version I had heard was a censored version. So to my surprise, as we are driving into a church and I hear the actual lyrics blast from the speakers. I learned a very important lesson that day. Scan everything. ​

All throughout church and this party we went to afterwards I sang all the songs I could remember and even danced a little. It wasn’t quite alright considering we were at a suit and tie event and some of these dances were a bit flexible. That night, on the car ride back home I was wide awake and couldn’t wait to get back to my game. When we got home, I rushed to the television but then my dad walked in and told me to “Go to sleep. You can play it in the morning.” So to my bed I went, but to sleep, I did not. There was too much angst in my stomach to be able to sleep. I laid there until dawn. The second I saw the sun come up, I rushed downstairs and turned on the game. Because I loved the music so much I had the volume up pretty loud. I was dancing to “California Gurls.” I had to do every song to leave a high score left by me, so when people saw they would know I’m the king. Once the song was over and I got my 5 stars, I did my little victory twirl/dance. To my surprise, my father was behind me and revealed through our conversation, he was standing there for quite some time. Even funnier, Just Dance records you as you play, so in the back of the video you can see my dad standing there with his arms crossed staring at me. When asked what I was doing I replied, “You said I could play in the morning.” I was told to go back to sleep. So again, I went to my room, laid in my bed, but I still could not sleep. I couldn’t just sleep, but I could just dance.