May I Have this Dance for the Rest of My Life...

I chose this photo to celebrate our anniversary because it's the hottest day of the year today and I wanted to remember the romance of snuggling together to get warm in sub zero weather!

One of my favorite songs in whole world is "May I have this dance?" I always loved to dance before I got married and became a Baptist! Dad liked to dance too before we got married. But I always associated dancing with romance and flowers and wooing and affection. Then when this song came out, it touched me deeply, because I realized that marriage was like a dance that lasts forever. There is the partner--choosing the right partner. There is the need to hold each other close whether there is cold weather or hot weather. There are the steps that one needs to learn to be able to glide gracefully across the floor. There is the correct posture and position and how that has to be just right for it to feel right. There is the one who leads, and the one who follows. When the follower tries to lead, the feet get tangled and they might even fall down. There is music--the rythm, the melody, the harmony, the lyrics. All of it flowing perfectly together so that the couple can know which dance to dance.

Have you ever watched older couples who have been dancing together for years? Like Grammy and Grampy--I wish you all could see how perfectly joined they were when they danced. The years fell away and he was such a handsome lead and she fit perfectly in his arms and it was as though they were made for the waltz. It's amazing. If one or the other tried to take a different partner, they would become immediately clumsy and wouldn't know what to do with the wrong partner!

Dad and I have been dancing our dance for 37 years. When we were going together and we were newly married he would often say to me when we were standing together, snuggling on the sofa, or just holding hands, "you fit just right." And I did. And I still do. And he has truly been the perfect partner for me. I realize it more and more as I grow older and life is so full and different than I ever imagined it would be--that this was God's plan for my married life, that I would learn in this dance that every blessing and every trial was ordained by Him and He meant for it to all work together to form a perfect minuet, bossanova, swing, or rumba. We know the steps, we know the rythym, we know our partner. And it is in his arms that I have found the perfect fit and the perfect dance partner.

Happy Anniversary Honey!