Waltz

Pictures told me
Once upon a time where you would be
When you were younger dancing with friends
Parties that seemed to never end
Before career, us, and bedtime stories

So on your birthday
My parents snuck our kids away
And we had dinner
Someplace new–you didn’t have a clue

After I take you next door
To the studio with hardwood floors
A class was in session
Time to make a confession–

“This is not a night club
Like those you used to love
Hanging out with good friends
Back then”

“But we can still dance
If you take a chance
With something slower
Now that we’re older”

The instructor showed us the steps
With each beat what would come next
A sideway glance to me you looked uncomfortably
But it wasn’t just us being clumsy

A class of awkward couples
Like gorillas dragging their knuckles
We were not that much better
But we were learning together

A few hours in
It was time to begin
Big band music soon did start
As well as a tugging at my heart–

I remembered being alone at a singles hangout
Sipping water nervously glancing about
Not sure why I was there
Staying at home I guess I could no longer bear

Then you tap me on the shoulder
You obviously of us the bolder
Tapped me again for I was staring at some plants
“Hey if you’re not waiting for someone would you like to dance–?”

Now I’m back at the studio with you
A song from another era plays and
Time to show off what we now knew
Then I grin and take your hand

“May I have this dance?”

At first you are hesitant
Because it was not like before
But as we waltz some more
You start to smile

The same way you smiled that evening long ago
When you asked the wallflower wannabe
To dance not because you knew where we’d be
Or how things would go

Everyday from then we soon realized
That the path ahead was a wonderful surprise
Even though the ending we did not know

We waltz through many more sets
You pull me a little closer
Then in my ear you whisper
“I’m glad you weren’t waiting for someone else
When we first met”