Feb 4, 2012

Posted by in Articles & Essays, Family Life | 0 Comments

Life’s a Dance

Life’s a dance, you learn as you go…”

“Life’s a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don’t worry about what you don’t know
Life’s a dance you learn as you go”
~John Michael Montgomery

Some fifteen or so years ago, my husband and I regularly took ballroom dance lessons. At the time, our sons were young and we really needed some time together away from the house and kids. Our neighbor’s daughter would graciously babysit the boys while we went off to learn how not to step on each other’s toes. It was a wonderful way to learn something new with my favorite guy.

I kind of forgot about our ballroom dance lesson days until I was looking for things to photograph in our home with my newly acquired Nikon D50 camera (a terrific hand-me-down from my oldest son). We received the trophy, pictured above, from our dance instructor, Marge. She gave all of the couples in her class a trophy. What made the trophies special was that they were originally Marge’s trophies. Marge was a feisty older lady, who came here from England as a bride during the World War II days. She danced professional and competitively for most of her life. Marge took all of her trophies and relabeled them for her students. For fifteen years, I have kept this trinket out in our living room, dusting it occasionally but not really seeing it or thinking about what it represents.

David made this piece for our dance instructor, Marge.

As I viewed the photos on my computer, I took a trip down memory lane, hearing the dance music play in my head, remembering how David and I would count the steps together as we pretended to glide along the dance floor. We even decided to perform in a recital, along with all of the other couples in the classes. We practiced that dance for weeks! I recall that we would often dance in our yard, with the music playing over the garage stereo, much to the amusement of our elderly neighbors. They would throw comments at us like: You kids are so cute. Or, my personal favorite: Always keep dancing.

Through the years, even though we have not continued with dance lessons, we have managed to keep dancing. When I look at that little trophy today, I realize that we have kept dancing through our lives. Every kind of step, from the slow to the snappy, we have managed to keep one another focused on the beat of the music, the rhythm of our lives always intertwining. It does not seem to matter if we are dancing at an event or dancing at home. Most of the time, we dance to our favorite tunes in our family room, surrounded by an audience of felines and canines. And as the lyrics above state, we do learn as we go, we take turns leading and following, and most of all, we just enjoy the dance together.

Check out the rest of David’s glass work at the 3 Boy Glassworks website.

 

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