I'm alive! Yes ma'am! And thank you, ladies who came before me, for that. 

I breathe, I move, I dance, I sing. I'm alive. But, wait. How'd that happen? Here inside the very modern me is an energy that has existed - had to have - since the exact beginning of life itself. And the life force looks like a jelly bean. Actually, there are billions of jelly bean-like energy packs in every one of my cells that keep me movin' and groovin'. 

Far back, beyond any point I can imagine, life began, a long series of baton passes through time to this very moment. I sit here breathing and writing because an infinite number of successful relay exchanges were made, mother to daughter, over and over again, passing life forward and onward. For only the ovum passes the life force forward. The sperm does not. Sorry guys. 

Inside each of my cells, and there are a few gazillion of them, are mitochondria. They fascinate me. They are not me technically. They are essentially the very life force itself. Without them in each cell giving energy for cell functioning, I am a goner. They have their own DNA that's different from my own. They are little passengers, lifelong cohorts, that have been passed through my maternal line since time out of mind. 

Now there's little ol' me, stayin' alive. 

Here, in celebration, is dance, song and life, expressed with panache.  As it should be. Ladies, here's to you who carry the life force from your mothers before you. 

http://youtu.be/mz3CPzdCDws