Shake It Up Baby!

Used to use this phrase a lot. When things got too mundane, we would find a way to “shake it up baby”. Maybe an unexpected vacation or a simple picnic in the park would break the ho-hum of everyday life. Some buy a new tie or a car or having an evening dinner out to make the mild mannered ordinary life seem unordinary.

I’ve been through a few “shake it up baby” moments in my life. Some I had control over and some just happened. Some were highs and some were lows. Each one was a memorable life alternating turn.

As I hear a lot of sirens roar through the neighborhood after a cold front came through, I think of all those folks who had “shake it up baby” moments like having a house destroyed in a tornado or sending a son to war or becoming disabled after a auto accident. I’m not sure I would know what to do in that situation, but somehow we all seem to be able to deal with it. We all cope with the unexpected, but we don’t have to like it.

So the time to break out of the routine has come. Sometimes we can make a change. Whether it is positive or negative, we have the intelligence to decide our own path. Even with the bumps in the road, we are able to go back to school, start another career, learn new hobbies, adjust our diets, and many other options are available for our choosing.

For the past year, my routine has slowed to a crawl. My to-do list has not grown neither has it gotten any shorter. To try and spark a difference an expensive birthday present was ordered, but it is slow in the process and has become yet another excuse not to move on. I’m not ready to move or get married or have a baby, so I’ll have to settle for some other life alternating experience to kick my butt out of a ho-hum.

Time to “Shake It Up Baby!”