July 2009 Nate and IYears ago, as I watched dancers do their Tango, I thought it looked fun and flashy, I never knew how complex it all was. I never saw their rehearsals,..... just the show. Now, I know there is so much more that lies beneath the surface.
We started taking ballroom dancing lessons while we were dating. Some of you will remember that Nate and I did a Tango as our first dance at our wedding. The more I think about it, the more I realize, our relationship is so much like a passionate Tango. (I'm so glad we chose it as our first dance - it has a lot of meaning to me).
Nate is my partner, in dance...........and in life. If the music is fast, we move fast, doing our best to keep up with the beat. Sometimes it's easy, everything just falls into place. Sometimes it's difficult, we keep stepping on each other's toes and bumping knees and the skirt of my dress gets tangled.
When I stumble, Nate is always there to catch me. At times, he has even had to carry me, until I can dance again. He's had to lean on me too, he can't always see what's behind him. Occasionally, there are obstacles in our path. We have been though tough times, when the wrong song is blaring, and we can't remember the steps........but,we hold on. The music keeps playing; we have to find our place. With time we get going again and then we are laughing, and dancing to the beat.
Once in awhile, Nate tries a new dance move (one that I don't know), then things can get a little crazy, but it usually doesn't take long until we are in step again.
Some of our friends have had trouble with other people trying to "cut in" while they are dancing. This is scary to me. What if someone tries to cut into our dance? What will we do? I know we have a strong base, and our frame is good. We only want to dance with each other.
Now and then, the music slows and we just sway back and forth holding each other close. At times, it all just gets to be too much. These are the times, when I really think about how glad I am to have such a strong, reliable, partner. Who's always standing there with open arms. We listen to the beat and move together as one. Despite some of our missteps, there is no one else I would want to Tango with.
We can get so caught up in the music, and in each other, we often don't notice what's going on around us. The excitement, the lights, the glittery costumes, it can all be very distracting. It's easy to get lost in the moment. Lately though, we have these two small people we keep tripping over. They keep us focused. For them, we need to pay attention. We make it work, we pick them up and they dance along, in our arms. (I wonder how our Tango will change when we don't need to carry them anymore? Will it go back to how it was before? Will we struggle to find our balance? Will we come up with new, even better, dance steps?)
This Tango is so fun, and it's crazy. Sometimes it's frustrating. It's unique, it's ours; this Tango is for life.
May 31st, 2003 Our Wedding Dance.
2 comments:
Wow, what a great memory! I like how you related it (the dance) to our lives together, and I absolutely agree. I still remember, when during that tango wedding dance, I forgot the next steps in the dance. At first it was really scary to me..I screamed to myself inside and said no way is this happening (after all that practicing, mental rehearsal, and about 150 onlookers). I whispered to you with this worried look on my face "what comes next?" You said, "I don't know, just do something". So I added a non-scribed rock step to buy me some time. I soon found a certain part of the song where I was able to remember and along I went. Nobody even knew what happened, and it was our fun little secret. Sometimes we have to take a detour in our lives to get to where we want, it may not be the most glamorous, but it definitely fits our lifestyle.
I love the conversations between you and Nate through your blog. What a gift!
And this post? PERFECT. :)
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