Now that the deadline of my 30th birthday is in sight (four more months, but still…), I’m also counting down the time left for me to reach a few more goals. I know the deadlines are self-imposed, but I now find myself planning any free evenings around my goals. Should I write up a query to send to a magazine? Or should I work on my next Toastmasters speech? Or maybe practice my handstands for a few minutes before *dare I suggest it* relaxing in front of the TV (and, of course, knitting my sweater). I know I’ll reach all the goals that I set to attain by my 30th birthday, but that only means I’ll have to set even more goals for…say age 35?

But as I think about getting older, I realize just how important it is to stay connected to my youthful side. And that was most apparent to me this past Sunday in my second of two low-flying trapeze aerial dance classes. This form of trapeze was born out of modern dance, and is different from the typical circus trapeze. This swing ends in one point on the ceiling, whereas circus trapezes are attached to the ceiling at two points, thus limiting the movement of the swing. With aerial dance, the swing can spin and move in all directions.

During the two classes, we learned how to flip onto the swing (ranging from 4-6 feet off the floor), we learned certain poses, and we tried to get familiar with the movement of the swing. Let me tell you–those days on the monkey bars during elementary school are far gone, but I honestly think that my playing on the bars as a kid helped me in these classes! Unfortunately, I’m lifting a lot more weight onto those bars nowadays…

To end the class (after learning a horribly painful, thigh-bruising–but absolutely gorgeous–pose), the teacher ended with an easy, fun exercise. While one person sat on the swing, another person held onto the swing and moved it in a circular motion. Once the swing got enough momentum. the person on the ground released the swing, allowing the person on top to swing freely and even try out some of the poses we learned. This would finally give us a chance to actually pose in motion.

When it was my turned, I sat up on the swing and looked around at the three other classmates who also were swinging in their corners, wearing grins as wide as mine. I wish I had a video camera to capture the image of four adults, swinging around a community center room, absolutely giddy with joy. How often do we get to do something like this, that makes us feel like kids again, that gives us a two-hour break from our reality of sitting behind desks five days out of the week and going about our responsible adult schedules the rest of the time?

I think we all need something like that every so often. It doesn’t have to be swinging on a trapeze, but I imagine we all have our little versions of aerial dances that remind us how to be young again.