The other day I was goofing around with the girls and teaching them all the square dance I know… which consists of spinnning each other around and yelling “do si do”…They seemed interested in learning more, so then I was left with the dilemma of trying to teach us dancing somehow. At the library, I checked out a CD and a book.
When I opened the book, I found two pages of illustrations titled “Dance Positions”. I’ve done a little ball room and square dance here and there, for school and social times, but I’ve never studied dance or its positions…
Open Position. Closed Position. Butterfly Position. Star Position.
Looking at the drawings of a man and woman dancing together, I thought of a song Christine Dente wrote about her relationship with her husband….
every dance is made of steps…
some are slow
some fast and confident
some move us together
some send us spinning
and we try again…
Isn’t marriage a dance? It can feel open. It can feel closed. There are moments it feels like a promenade. Times of intense conversation position. When you are side by side. Then there’s the flirtation position. Times of tango…oops, that’s not on these pages…!
The depth, durability and dimensions of my relationship with my husband have amazed me through time. This week marks the beginning of our sixteenth year together. Fifteen years ago this Friday we decided to start dating. Little did I know what that would mean…
Looking at these various dance positions on these pages, I am reminded of all the places and positions we have found ourselves through the years. Places impulsive, passionate and electric. We’ve learned to move together with elegance and embraced each other in body and spirit. We’ve had other times that have seemed more platonic than passionate, and moments when holding hands while walking side by side has been all we could do to get to to the next step without stopping.
Every dance is made of steps and each couple has a different dance to do. I don’t know what positions we will learn or what places will we go next on the dance floor but I anticipate more agility and grace – and fun! – as we continue to practice together.
1 response so far ↓
1 Katherine // Oct 20, 2004 at 9:03 am
Beautiful post, Julie. Made me wonder why I hadn’t blogged any of my own anniversaries with my husband, until I figured out that I started blogging this May, and our anniversaries are in January, March, and April. Coming up! 🙂 You inspire me, as always.