Happy Place. I have always been fascinated by the concept of one’s “happy place.” For me as a young kid, my happy place was anywhere where I could curl up with a book. My parents used to joke that the cruelest punishment they could ever give me was to take away whatever book I was reading at the time- good thing I didn’t need to be punished very often (really, ever)!
Of course, as I got older, my happy place clearly evolved. Between the ages of 17-21, my happy place was in Brunswick, Maine, where I attended Bowdoin College. Once I met my husband Todd and had my children, Gabby and Matty, my happy place was and remains wherever the four of us can be together and especially when we are able to get away for a family vacation.
This week a relatively new All That Jazz parent told me on the phone that the studio is already her daughter’s happy place. I immediately got a little teary when she said this and it reminded me of this moment that I had almost forgotten about between me and Gabby several years ago.
We were at a High Holidays service and the Rabbi said “I want all of you to close your eyes and picture your happy place.” Seeing as it how was the start of the school year and things were crazy busy at the studio, I, of course, closed my eyes and immediately started seeing all of the endless tasks that I had to do to get dance classes up and running. Gabby, on the other hand, whispered to me “what was your happy place? Mine was the dance studio!”
The irony was not lost on me. All of my endless tasks were directly resulting in my own daughter’s happy place. To hear this parent use the same phrase this week was music to my ears. I hope our dance studio is YOUR child’s happy place, too. That has always been my one and only goal for All That Jazz and it makes all of “my endless tasks” so very worthwhile.
