Do you want your life to make you wiggle? I sure do! Pure joy! Total abandonment of self-consciousness? Who wouldn't want that?

Babies and puppies know how to make their lives wiggle. My eight-month-old granddaughter, Dakota, expresses pure, unrestrained joy at the sight of her musical book, her soother or her favourite food. She is my mentor.

When I hold Dakota in my arms and she sees her mother, she cannot contain herself. Her excitement starts at her feet, moves through her legs, ripples up through her body, and explodes into an open-armed lunge towards the object of her love. Her smile radiates complete happiness.

Puppies, too are unconstrained in their expression of delight; and everything delights them. Have you ever picked up a stick near a puppy and witnessed his explosion into fits of wiggles of pure ecstasy? Does life get any better than an anticipated human touch, a stick in hand, a treat or a mud puddle? A puppy enjoys everything presented to him as if he is experiencing it for the first time. He doesn't just say, "Nice treat, thanks." He says, "Oh my gawd, I luuuuv this! I have never tasted anything as fabulous as this in my whole life!"

Babies and puppies do not ask the question, "Do I want my life to make me wiggle." They allow life to take hold of them. They feel deeply. They love life!

I am not suggesting that  adults don't jump for joy or wiggle with excitement. We just tend to do it a little less often than babies and dogs. We tend to be more contained. We tend to  wonder if we will indeed enjoy it as much as we think we might.

I just love it when I am witness to an adult embracing an experience with uninhibited abandon. It happened a few weeks ago while watching a marimba band called Mufara (www.mufaro.ca) playing at the Moss Street Market (www.mossstreetmarket.com), an organic farmers market just a few blocks from my house (which, by the way, is where a lot of the pictures were taken for our gratitute video).

Most of the musicians were focused on their instruments and looked quite serious but one woman was beside herself with excitement. She was so fresh, so alive. Her passion flowed through her arms to the marimba and her smile seemed to illuminate everyone watching. Not only was she wiggling but the whole audience was wiggling with her.

She so inspired me that when I recently found a poster advertising marimba lessons I signed up. I have never been able to stand still while listening to a marimba band. My whole body feels the music and I feel almost tearful when I witness the magic of musicians playing cohesively and joyfully together. 

I have had three lessons so far with a very patient and knowledgeable instructor named Ted Wright (www.bopoma.org)and I can hardly wait for more. Eight of us played a real song together, yes a real song, after one lesson. I can't tell you how exciting that was!

I am wiggling and I plan on making it spread throughout my life. However, if you find me chasing sticks on Dallas Road feel free to comment.