The other side of the disco.

Over 12 years ago I started my first job as a DJ, for TSPDJ (TS Productions back then). Although I loved the job, being the youngest, newest DJ - and probably because I was the girl - I always, always got stuck doing "Kiddie Disco" out at Beale AFB.

I am not a kid person. Yeah, I know, I have two of them. Even when I was little I preferred hanging out with the grown ups, sitting on their laps, bugging them, trying to be a part of the conversation. I've never been the roll-around-on-the-floor, silly, crazy one that all the kids gravitate toward. Trying to do that always felt fake, and you know, kids see right through that crap, so why bother?

So sticking me on "Kiddie Disco" was probably the worst decision Steve could have ever made, and quite possibly the most challenging thing I've ever done. Standing up on a stage and running around the room with 50 kids, trying to entertain them and send them home exhausted, was, well, exhausting - more mentally than physically.

Seeing the cuteness behind the high pitched screaming, same question repeating, hip poking, hey, hey, hey lady, hey, hey lady, ketchup-faced ragamuffin was never my forte. I like to think I'm better at it these days. A little. Sort of. But back then, every Wednesday from 5pm-8pm was the bane of my existence.

I was in Locomotion Limbo Hokey Pokey Hell.

Fast-forward to last night. What's a mom to do when her husband is in Denver and she's searching for something to entertain and exhaust her own high-pitched screaming, organic-ketchup-faced ragamuffins?

Kiddie Disco!

And dare I say, it was actually fun! Rolling around on the floor, balloon sword fighting, hokey-pokey heaven! Because there truly is nothing better, or more fun, than watching your children get down and boogie - except doing it with them.

Sure the times have changed a bit, and Kiddie Disco has evolved since those days. But so have I. Now I am the parent, the grown-up. When once all of the moms were running out to join their kids for the Macarena, now we're all rushing out to dance floor for the Cupid Shuffle:



Which was kind of weird with the kids since the last time I did that dance I was less than sober...

But anyway...

The strange reality that the 16 year old DJ was now the 28 year old mom chasing her kid around was not lost on me. And I have to admit it was kind of an emotional moment. All that I have done, experienced, and endured to get to this place - the other side of the Disco. No longer a teenager faking her way through three hours a week, but a parent, exchanging knowing glances with the mom digging the stepped-on floor cookie out of her toddler's mouth. And I have to say, I like this place a lot better. It's hard. It's exhilarating. It's frustrating. It's worth it.

This my friends, is not fake. This is as real as it gets.