Having been a kindergarten teacher for years, my wife, Karen, has many children's books that she often read with our grandchildren. I've found that a lot of those books have great lessons for adults as well. One that speaks to me is "Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose" by Dr. Seuss. Thidwick is a moose who cannot say no. Because he wants to please everyone, he winds up hurting himself.

When our grandson Toddy was younger, he liked the book, "Giraffes Can't Dance" by Giles Andreae-the story of a giraffe named Gerald who tries to dance, but his legs are too long and clumsy. When he tries to dance to the dance music of others, he fails. Feeling rejected and ashamed, Gerald leaves the dance. Stopping to look at the moon, he hears the voice of a cricket who saw him try to dance. The cricket tells him something we all need to hear: "Sometimes when you're different, you just need a different song." Gerald finally finds his song, dances to it, and amazes all the other animals. The lesson here for all of us is to find our own dance music.

In an article about thinking of ourselves as an instrument, I read: "When we invidiously compare ourselves to others, we easily forget what kind of instrument we are-how to play on our own terms-and instead, we try to unfairly force ourselves into another instrument or even an altogether different genre. Remember that the goal of life is to fashion your own music based on the unique instrument you've been given."

When I think of how we try to dance to others' dance music, my thoughts go to my wife's grandfather. He lost his job, and Karen's mother could hear him crying. Out of that pain and because of that closed door, a new career opened up for him-one that would never have happened if that door had not closed. His story speaks to how opportunities come into our lives.

Often, opportunities do not come on a silver platter. They emerge when we are forced to change because the door has closed on what we were doing. Sometimes, we can get so caught up in what we are doing we forget to listen to our own inner self. In not taking the time to stop and evaluate who we really are and what our own direction is, we miss the opportunity to dance our own dance music.

When we no longer hear the old music, let us listen for a new song that will give us a new dance. "Giraffes Can't Dance" ends on a beautiful note: "Then Gerald raised his head and looked up at the moon and stars above. ‘We all can dance,' he said, ‘when we find music that we love.'"