Desert Diva

It’s a very rainy Sunday in my little part of the world.  I’ve lived here for ten years now and have NEVER seen so much rain at one time.  I thought I’d go to the local festivals this weekend, but the rain has been virtually non-stop! 

However, tonight was a nice dance with the live orchestra “Big Band on the Rio Grande.”   I had the opportunity to dance with several nice gentlemen and forget about the rain that “Ernesto” sent our way for awhile.    

Since I was a little girl, I’ve always been fond of the color “purple.”  I’m not “freaky” about  making everything purple, but if I have a choice it’s purple.  Tonight I “met my match” as a gentleman had a similar penchant - except for orange.  His dance shoes were actually orange.  In a brief conversation we had, I found he had an orange motorcycle and was in the process of buying an orange house.  I wonder if I should get some custom-made purple shoes?

These are my Freed “Marisa” ballroom shoes.  I have a pair in black and taupe.  Last night I went to the local country club for one of my favorite activities - ballroom dancing.  There is a live orchestra, a nice bar, and a sprung wood dance floor.  There are usually eighty people or so who attend this weekly activity. 

The problem is that when you see folks on a weekly basis you tend to hear gossip and “know their business.”  Case in point: A mother and daughter previously attended the dance with her boyfriend.  The “boyfriend” went after the mother and now they’re married.  The left behind daughter started dancing with a man whose wife has lupus and can’t dance.  The wife would come dancing from time to time - mostly to watch.  The man is divorcing his wife and - you guessed it - going out with the previously left behind daughter. 

I have my own “drama” from time-to-time.  I met a man who was twenty years older than me who I enjoyed dancing with frequently.  A woman (more his age) made a major play for him and I was “left in the dust.”  However, they are both widowed and seem to be happy together so I guess it’s fine.  There are a myriad of “on again, off again” romances.  It’s awkward to dance with these men in their “in-between” times.  I recently was left on the dance floor (after being asked and escorted out) by a guy at the dance club.  A woman came up and told him the orchestra was going to play the song she requested next and he had promised her to dance.  (He later apologized and asked me to lunch.) 

One of my favorite men to dance with is a widower who was previously a Catholic priest.  He told me he and his wife used to “dance around the kitchen” while she made tacos for dinner.  Jerry is in his eighties, but still pretty energetic.  He drives over an hour each Thursday to come to dance.  When I rest my arm on his shoulder to dance I’m reminded of the frail bones of a bird. 

Another woman broke off a five-year relationship with a man she had been dating for five years.  He is now (dancing) with someone else.  She still hasn’t been able to heal and transcend from the relationship.  When I speak with her, she is still filled with anger and hate over her ex.  It’s been over a year now. 

So, what’s a girl to do that wants to dance?