Live Life Off The Wall

[1st Verse]
When The World Is On Your Shoulder
Gotta Straighten Up Your Act And Boogie Down
If You Can't Hang With The Feeling
Then There Ain't No Room For You This Part Of Town
'Cause We're The Party People Night And Day
Livin' Crazy That's The Only Way

[Chorus]
So Tonight Gotta Leave That Nine To Five Upon The Shelf
And Just Enjoy Yourself
Groove, Let The Madness In The Music Get To You
Life Ain't So Bad At All
If You Live It Off The Wall
Life Ain't So Bad At All (Live Life Off The Wall)
Live Your Life Off The Wall (Live It Off The Wall)

[2nd Verse]
You Can Shout Out All You Want To
'Cause There Ain't No Sin In Folks All Getting Loud
If You Take The Chance And Do It
Then There Ain't No One Who's Gonna Put You Down
'Cause We're The Party People Night And Day
Livin' Crazy That's The Only Way

Off The Wall
Michael Jackson

When I was in Fifth Grade I was a complete and total nerd - a lovable nerd, to be sure, but the signs of nerd abuse I was about to experience in Jr. High were already beginning to rear their ugly heads. I was not cool. No way. No how. Until Michael Jackson saved my life.

One day, as I was sitting in the school yard playing with my Star Wars action figures and imagining worlds far away and adventures that would one temper my future novels, I heard this infectious beat coming from the kick ball grounds. All of the black kids were over there listening to some new songs on a portable radio. I picked up my toys and came over - starting to hover nearby. The black kids were going crazy for the soul/rock type jams coming from the radio. I asked one of them who was on the radio and they looked at me like I was crazy.

"Man, that's Michael."

"Michael who?"

"Michael Jackson."

"Turn it up."

Soon I found myself not only listening to Michael Jackson's newest album, Off The Wall, but I was able to sing along to the tunes. They were jamming. To this day, I still think this is Michael's best album. In fact, pretty much after Thriller, I stopped listening to him.

Suddenly, I was alright with the black kids. They took me under their wings, taught me how to dance, taught me how to groove, and watched my back. One kid, Dwight, was the most popular kid in my school. We didn't necessarily become friends, but we enjoyed Michael Jackson together. During the school talent show that the fifth graders put on, I even joined the black kids on stage doing a dance routine to Off The Wall. It was the highlight of my Cool Career. For the rest of the school year, the other kids left me alone.

I was thinking about that this weekend not as a reminder of bad times or safety measures but in the way that I loved to groove to this song. I was cool once. This weekend, I was cool again.

It took me a while to get over my own self-induced repression. It took me a day or so to readjust to the sort of wild joy that I remember from my youth. I admit to being quite guilty for a while. I kept making half baked promises to God and I couldn't understand why He was upset with me. And then, all of a sudden, it occurred to me. God was giving me this weekend as a present of pure joy.

Anyone who knows my friend Russ knows that he is fun. All the time. When we get together for our weekends, we get more done in three or four days than most people get done in two weeks. This weekend in Vegas I managed to go to a mountain resort, win money, shop for two hours at Sam's Club, sit in on a toddler's gymnastics class, play with kids in a park, eat at a Benihana's knock off restaurant, have ice cream, catch flying shrimp in my mouth, and squeeze in time to watch some basketball highlights. And that was just on one of the four days I was in Vegas. I spent money like it was going out of style - treating to dinners and movies and tipping extravagently - and the best part was that none of it was my money, or at least, it hadn't been at the start of the trip. ;)

I smiled. And I felt elated. And I didn't grumble but once during the entire four days (three hours to get out of a parking lot is a little excessive even for 160,000 NASCAR fans). I came home feeling refreshed and renewed and ready to tackle whatever challenge might come.

Perhaps there is another point to the whole Prodigal Son story that we keep missing. Perhaps there is a need to go away in order to come back. Perhaps joy is best expressed only after a traveler returns. Perhaps life is lived best off the wall.