So, I made another new dance friend this past weekend. We met several times before, but this time had more opportunity for conversation. An elderly man around 85, I would speculate. It wasn’t polite to ask the guy his age… He was sweet, polite, well-groomed. He knew how to ballroom dance, but it had been awhile, and short-term memory was fuzzy at certain points. But I thankfully figured out when his synapses didn’t connect smoothly and we managed to execute most steps along the way with a few laughs and no tumbles!
My husband isn’t exactly thrilled about my passion for ballroom dance even though I assure him that he is still the man I want to be married to (most days). I have to remind him that some people like to play golf, or tennis, or go fishing with friends. Happens that I grew up in a family that was very involved in ballroom dance, and frankly it is just deeply rooted in my bones, and something I want more of as the years pass. So… he has to deal with yet another one of my quirks… Not at all interested in sharing the activity with me, although to his credit, he has tried.
But, back to my new friend… Late in the evening I asked him how long he had been dancing. He told me the story of how he and his wife danced in their early years together, got busy with the stuff of life and let it go by the wayside, but back around 2009 they decided it was something they needed to enjoy once again, so they took some lessons and found it to be a truly wonderful chapter of their lives. Then, his wife got pancreatic cancer. Her illness was difficult and the decline rapid. She made him promise that he would continue to dance even after she was gone… My friend’s eyes filled with tears as he told me this story. I wished I hadn’t asked… But it was there, buried in his eyes, and I conclude he wanted someone to listen.
At the close of the evening I hugged my new friend and told him that his wife was one really lucky lady… His smile was bright.
I hope to see him again sometime. I am in awe of how resilient one can be on the heels of losing a long-time love.