Today I am the pubtender at dVerse Poets’ Pub and….it is Haibun Monday! I am giving the prompt today and I want us to write about romance – first love, puppy love, unrequited, forever love, engagement, marriage…We’ve seen the wonderful movies: Say Anything, Sleepless in Seattle, Casablanca, Murphy’s Romance, Shakespeare in Love…the list goes on and on. Sometimes our romance is like a movie and sometimes, it is delightfully ordinary. People are writing about the loves in their lives. Come and join us for a little romance!
One on One
After long years of being alone after a tragically failed relationship of years, I had finally put myself out there. Typically, I went straight to computer dating. I placed an ad on AOL Personals and had received over 60 responses. There were the typical just looking for sex, needy whiny types, aggressive in your face types and about three actual real humans. I emailed them and decided on one. A local guy who loved roller coasters, was financially and emotionally stable, no baggage, and…a sense of humor. We met and began dating. Slowly my heart began to heal but still it held back. We both discovered we loved ballroom dancing and frequently went and enjoyed. Summer came and he was invited to a cousin’s big splashy wedding. We went, both of us dressed to the nines and when we heard the band at the reception, we were ready to rock. A few songs went by to give us the courage to get up and dance. None of his relatives knew he could ballroom dance.
We were sitting when the band began to play Hall and Oates’ One on One. My heart shriveled in my chest and I wanted to run away. This was the song I had taught my absent partner to dance to, to rhumba. It became our favorite song and a secret message between the two of us. Brad said to me, let’s dance. I looked at him in horror. No, not to this one. He frowned and insisted, yes – to this one. I reluctantly followed him to the dance floor and we began to rhumba. Rhumba – the dance of love. I remained stiff while he smoothly danced around me. Without warning, he grabbed me and dipped me down, my hair brushing the floor. Moving with me, he put his lips to my ears and whispered, “That was then, this is now. That was him, this is me.” He pulled me up close to him and held me close. My heart melted and I fell deeply and unrestrainedly in love with him, just in that moment. The song ended and we went back to our table. The rest of the evening we danced and spent time looking into each other’s eyes. We were married a year later, on that same date. And I am still head over heels in love with this true hearted man with eyes the color of a clear summer sky.
summer skies – cloudless
and bright with warm sun grows a
rose in a frozen heart