Honorary Columbian

Tonight, I joined my Bizarro twin, her sister, and her mom and hit up the Shakira concert downtown. My Bizarro twin (BT) is part Columbian, Lebanese, and Croatian - a warring nation she calls herself. We foundeach other a few years ago at our old jobs as assistants at the mouse eared company, when one of my bosses was trying to find nice young men for the both of us single girls. When he asked what I was looking for,
I half jokingly said, "someone who doesn't look like I have a fighting chance of beating up." BT looked at me and burst out laughing, exclaiming "I feel the same way!"

We quickly found out that our parents lived down the street from each other, that we grew up in the same school district, played tennis on our high school teams, had extremely similar dispositions and outlooks on life, the same awkwardness about our heights, our shyness, and our tomboyishness growing up, and of course parallel dating histories. She declared that we were each other's Bizarro twins and amazingly, the list of similarities keeps growing as we've continued to find out more about each other.

When Shakira gave a shout out to all her fellow Columbians, BT and her family turned to me and said "you are an honorary Columbian tonight!" They laughed at how much I enjoyed the music though I had no clue to what the Spanish lyrics meant. I knew every song and can actually sing along to quite a few of them, even if it's just mimicking
sounds. BT tried to translate a few of her favorites for me, the ones she called "Women Redemption" songs - songs about not putting up with any more BS from the guy or dealing with grief and heartache heavier than cement. She thinks as much as I already love Shakira's voice and her music, I'll appreciate the songs even more once I find out what they mean. Although, I do like much of her lyrics, there's also
something comforting about listening to good music in which you don't get distracted by the words.

The concert brought back good memories of the last time I saw her tour, when Shakira hadn't even learned English yet. Her music reminds me of a time when I was younger and much more hopeful about life and love. At the same time, her songs also stir up feelings of strength and growth while inspiring fun and enpowerment. I do however, have another new goal in life now - I want to dance like Shakira. Even if it takes me till I'm 80 to do it.