Just Dancing (2014) Through It

    For whatever reason, as my mind strayed tirelessly through another night I couldn't sleep through, a relic of the past resurfaced in my mind, brimming with memories and good vibes. Though I would forget about it once I woke up the next day, a few hours later I checked my phone to see that I had an unfinished YouTube search from the previous night: Just Dance 2014.

    Since I didn't have anything better to do this morning, I decided to turn on the old PS3 in my living room, dust off the old game box, and charge the motion controllers that probably haven't been used in at least half a decade. However, when I booted up the game, I found something else than what I came for entirely: a catalogue of old auto-recording music videos that the game recorded of me and my family dancing along a full 10 years ago. Excited by the prospect of a nostalgic experience and watching goofy videos, I called over my dad and we sat on the couch to watch through some old clips together.

Nostalgic Dancing

    Through a lot of laughing (and even more cringing), we reexperienced a night of fun we had a decade ago surrounded by extended family and the excitement of a brand new game we got for Christmas. It was pretty goofy watching my younger self absolutely murder the choreography for these songs (in a bad way) but with more enthusiasm than I could muster today, knowing how poor my dancing skills are. Similarly, it was just entertaining watching my family members similarly commit to the dancing, notably with my grandma hitting the stanky leg during a Ghostbusters dance.

Modern Day Dancing

    When the rest of my family got home, we rewatched all of the videos again and were inspired to try out the songs 10 years later and see if we improved at all (spoiler, we didn't). With the spark of making new memories being lit by the fun of the past, we tried a few songs and had a blast taking turns dancing, photobombing the background of each video, and confirming that we still had absolutely no sense of rhythm despite the time that passed.

    At risk of writing a nonsense blog that simply recounted my family's plans for the weekend, I wanted to add an extra bit of reflection at the end of this post. While it was obviously fun to watch our old videos and fail miserably at the dances now, I couldn't stop thinking about how lucky I am to have the family I have. I know far too many people who don't have this kind of relationship with their parents or siblings, whether it be out of a conflict with them or simply not vibing with them. I often take for granted the sort of home life I lead, with having such supportive and fun parents to the point I would consider them friends, as opposed to the disdain so many others have for their own families. I guess it's the silly simple moments that you share with people that make you realize how much they mean to you after all!