All of her life, Danielle has loved to dance. She is the exact opposite of me when it comes to dancing. Where Danielle dances freely and uninhibited, I am an introvert, maybe because I never took lessons and don’t really know the proper steps, and my two left feet got in my way. I always felt clumsy when I danced and thought every one in the room was watching me. I believed I had two left feet. But that all changed in a flash when I met Danielle.
We both enjoy music of all kinds. We have the opportunity to listen to a variety of CD’s on our way to our church on Sunday mornings. You see, we live in the little town of Mountainair, New Mexico (population 980) which is about an hour and a half from our church in Albuquerque. We drive there every Sunday morning.
Believe it or not, we enjoy the ride. We drive through a beautiful canyon with tall pine trees and a winding road. Often we drive all the way to Albuquerque and don’t see another car traveling in our direction and maybe only a handful going the opposite way. Danielle and I often have inspired conversations or we sing together to the CD playing on our car radio. Country gospel seems to be our favorite and we sing the old familiar hymns together. In the Garden, The Old Rugged Cross, How Great Thou Art and so many more. We also enjoy the classics from the 1940s and 50s.
On one of our Sunday trips, we were listening to Anne Murray sing some of these oldies. One of my favorites and one Danielle had not heard before was As Time Goes By from the movie Casa Blanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. As the song was playing, Danielle suddenly shouted, “Pull over and stop the car! Not knowing what emergency was occurring, I quickly pulled over. She told me to come around to the passenger side of the car and to hurry. I got out of the car and ran around to the other side. By then, Danielle had gotten out of the car, left her car door open and cranked up the radio as loud as it would go. She then said, “Let’s dance!”
Before I knew it I was holding my darling wife in my arms and we were dancing to this wonderful music. We danced in the dirt strip along the highway, and of course, I was looking out for other cars whose drivers would think we were crazy. And then I remembered…who cares? I am free and I am with the woman I love!!! I can dance like no one is watching and in the end Iwas overcome with joy, love and laughter. When the song was over, we thanked each other for the dance, kissed each other passionately and told one another how much we loved each other. And then we got back into the car in a state of joy and bliss. What an amazing morning. A memory to last a lifetime.
Speaking of memories, I have learned a valuable lesson when going places with Danielle. If she says, “Wanna make a memory?” I should consider running in the opposite direction.
One day we were in Old Town Albuquerque. I have friends from Ecuador who play Andian style flute music in the Old Town square. Danielle had not met them and I wanted to introduce her and enjoy their music. Following introductions, we were sitting at a table listening to the music being played by our friends. About this time, a group of 10 or 12 adults came into the square and sat down. It turned out that they were a group that were living with a variety of mental disabilities. It was obvious they were enjoying themselves as they swayed to the music. It was then that Danielle looked over at me and said those fateful words, “Wanna make a memory?” I asked what she had in mind and she said she wanted me to go dance with one of the ladies from this group. She said she was going to go and dance with the young man who was in a wheelchair. As she was awaiting my answer she said I looked like a deer in the headlights.
I must admit, I was scared to death. It was one thing to dance with my wife on the side of the road, but to ask a complete stranger was something else altogether. Somehow I mustered up the courage and put my fear behind me. I walked over to one of the ladies, a woman in her 50s and asked her if she’d like to dance? She looked a bit surprised and to my delight she sheepishly declined.. Just as I thought I might be off the hook, her girlfriend who was standing nearby, said she’d love to dance. Oh, what to do!
I took a deep breath, took this ladies hand and walked out into the square where we danced to the music of our friends. This lovely lady I was dancing with could not keep in step to the music but it was okay because I’m not sure I was either.. We just held on to each other and had a grand time dancing to a beat that was in this lady’s head.
As I looked over at Danielle, she was holding on to the arms of the wheelchair and swaying with the music as she moved the wheel chair to and fro and side to side as she danced with this young man. His face was beaming like a jack-o-lantern. His smile lit up the entire area and could be seen from across the square. There was no question he was throughly enjoying his dance. It was then I noticed a tourist standing off to the side of the square with a video camera. He was filming Danielle and the wheelchair bound young man. I often wonder how many times that video has been shared and what impact it may have had on others.
The dance concluded and I led my dance partner back to her chair thinking I would go and sit down. That was not to happen. The lady I had first asked to dance had lost her fear and said she’d love to dance, so back to the dance floor. It was okay. My fear had vanished and the dances were enjoyed by all. It really was a lovely experience, and certainly an event I will not soon forget. But it doesn’t end there.
On one Sunday morning at our Unity church, our friend Gene was playing his guitar and singing. Gene is special to us. We have enjoyed his singing and his performances. Gene sang at our wedding and even wrote an original song he dedicated to us. Gene often sings contemporary songs that may have a spiritual theme and that are familiar to the congregation. On this particular Sunday Gene started playing and singing Hava Nigila, the Israeli folk song. The congregation was really getting into it and were standing and clapping along with the music. Nearby I saw friend Giselle step out into the aisle pulling her husband behind her. They started dancing down the aisle to the music when the next thing I knew I was being pushed out into the aisle by Danielle. She took my hand, pulled me along and we joined Giselle and her friend. Now I know nothing about folk dancing to this tune, so I just tried to follow the steps of Giselle and Danielle. Amazingly, others began to join in and soon most of the church was dancing to the song while forming a conga line that snaked throughout the church, Seeing what was happening, Gene continued by singing more and more choruses of the song.. Finally we returned to our seats to a great sound of shouts and applause. What a wonderful way to praise our God.
Since then Danielle and I seem to break into dance just about anywhere. We have danced outside the theater while waiting for the doors to open, we dance in our living room, we dance in our heads and anywhere the spirit leads us.
The best part? Being able to dance with my wife, my sweetheart, my lover, my soul-mate and my friend.
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