Back to the Well

Back to the Well

John Paul Derryberry

We played freeze dance after school this week—just the girls and me until Mom came home and joined in. We were just a family creating a little fun on a random school night. It was winding down as dinner time was coming. My youngest flashed her smile, which meant something super cute or spicy was coming. Currently, it's 50/50 in her development, so one never knows which way could it go. The fun of parenting is embracing that you really do not know.

She asked if she could play one more song, but dance to it, not freeze dance. I nodded yes, and she played "The Well" by Briscoe, a song I discovered when we chilled together before her preschool program opened. She has not quite moved off it, as it is her favorite song. Selfishly, I hope it remains one of them. Her favorite songs have been for most of her life. I scooped her up, and we danced together in our living room, and her smile stayed fixed on her face for the length of our tune. It was a moment of pure happiness.

I suppose this is what most of us are looking for out of life. Moments that remind us we are alive, that fix a smile on our face that won't fade quickly. Yet, we continue making choices, allowing fewer people to access such moments. I can feel the eye roll from so many of them right now. It costs nothing to play music with your kids; well, first off, it costs something, and second. I'm talking about creating communities and homes with reduced stress where we can engage in the moments right in front of us.

Many of us are distracted from what truly adds depth to life because we are not afforded that luxury, given how the system is set up. The constant news cycle, the pitting of people against each other, the seemingly never-ending idea that we have to one-up each other or have our life choices affirmed as correct and others as wrong—so many of us are going back to a well that offers nothing that quenches our thirst.

We finished our dance, and I was reminded of all the things I was doing correctly in life. I'm fulfilled and happy. Not because of playing with what so many others say, but because of what we must do to find happiness and success. But partly because I outright reject most of those notions. As I sat down with my youngest, my oldest asked me to dance to her favorite song. I was happy to go back to the well for another moment. It's a well that quenches my thirst for life, confirming that I'm where I belong, that I'm the person I want to be, and that I'm doing enough right to have a good life.