Tango

Here is another excerpt from what I wrote four years ago. I used and quoted a lot of songs because as I mentioned before I believe the lyricists have a gift of writing down what in a moment in time we feel. You just have to find that one song that will make you feel like it was written for you. It was based on dancing and songs as my inspiration so for luck of a better title I always have referred to it as "Life's a Dance".

There was some chaos back then and even though it has not disappeared completely at least we are all living in good harmony.

Tango: A ballroom dance of Latin-American origin in 2/4 time with a basic pattern of step-step-step-step-close and characterized by long pauses and stylized body positions; also : the music for this dance.

It sounds like it's an interesting dance, with 2/4 time and a basic pattern of step-step-step and the characterization of long pauses and body positions. Sounds like a dance to be shared, it sounds like a partner is needed, it sounds to me that… (Correct me if I’m wrong but I think I just came up with a new catch phrase) It Takes Two to Tango!
OK, I did not come up with that phrase; it’s actually been around longer than I have. Once I tried to dance a tango at the house while listening to it on the TV as I was watching an old Latin movie with Libertad Lamarque but it really felt silly to be going up and down the den going “tarara tan tan tan tan, chiquibum tarara ta ta tan tan tan tan” by myself, so I have never tried it again but I know that “mi chica” and I may sometime go someplace where tango is played and give it a shot. I know we will because we are together and we love to dance and we always like the challenge of trying to do things that appeal to us and that we haven’t done before. Yes, indeed it definitely takes two to tango.

But what happens when one of the partners just can’t go past that basic step, and the step-step-step pattern is repetitive instead of stylized? Some people may get stuck right after the basic step, and as the dance becomes faster and the moves and position become more intricate they just stop and give up, quitting becomes the easy way out and something that could have been beautiful and fulfilling becomes something of the past, something that you will say “been there, done that” and is now part of my failures list.

There’s also the group of stragglers, the ones that can’t quite get it the first time, or the second or third for that matter but they keep trying, they get stressed because the steps are hard, frustrated because the moves get faster, mad because they feel that they will be putting a check mark in the failures list but yet they keep that mentality of “If you first you don’t succeed, try and try again!”, and when they least expect it, they are dancing to the same tune, at the same pace, with the same rhythm and feeling the total joy of success. This group knows that a month or two from now some of the steps may be forgotten and they will be stepping on each other’s toes. But they already know what to do to bring those steps back and they will repeat the process until once again they dance to the same tune. They will refuse to be repetitive in their dance routine and innovation will be the only way they will allow to keep that routine fresh and enjoyable.

Life is a dance when you do the steps.

Life is a dance! Sometimes life is hard so think of it as a “tango”, it will be easier to learn if you have a partner to share. John Michael Montgomery one of my favorite country singers said it best in his song "Life’s a Dance":

When I was fourteen I was falling fast
For a blue eyed girl in my homeroom class
Trying to find the courage to ask her out
Was like trying to get oil from a waterspout
What she would have said I can't say
I never did ask and she moved away
But I learned something from my blue eyed girl
Sink or swim you gotta give it a whirl

Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry about what you don't know
Life’s a dance you learn as you go.

The longer I live the more I believe
You do have to give if you wanna receive
There's a time to listen, a time to talk
And you might have to crawl even after you walk
Had sure things blow up in my face
Seen the long shot, win the race
Been knocked down by the slamming door
Picked myself up and came back for more

Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry about what you don't know
Life's a dance you learn as you go

Thank God there was no blue-eyed girl in my life, I was lucky enough to find me a brown eyed one of a kind, I did find the courage to ask her to dance to that classic song “Love Disco Style” and here we are 24 years latter and we still haven’t stopped, keep the music playing and feel free to change the tune. I guess it is true life’s dance and we learn as we go, sometimes she leads, sometimes I follow and if we worry about what we don’t know, who gives a hoot, as long as we are together, we will learn as we go. Yeah we too were knocked down by the slamming door, but we picked ourselves up and came back for more. Yes I think we are two of the straggles kind, and I know we both firmly believe in the “try and try again” part.

The Spanish saying goes, “Nadie sabe lo que tiene, hasta que lo ve perdido” which in this particular train of thought of mine roughly translates into “you don’t really value what you have, until it is gone”, and then you can kick your self in the ass… or worse. Boohoo, boo, boo, I once had her and now she is gone. Did I love her? Did I care? Yes I did, but I never found the courage to tell her. But aren’t women supposed to know this, doesn’t the female intuition switch turns to on automatically. Why should I be verbal about it? Why should I commit? What difference does it make? Be with me or take a hike and see if I care. Do I love you? Do I care? I don’t really know, but what do you think? Just take a wild guess because chances are that your guess will be as good as mine. Well life’s a dance and you want to dance it well, so if you show commitment to your partner you’ll find out that life’s difficulties which may come your way with your perfect rhythm and your fancy step you’ll be dancing to a perfect pattern and it won’t matter if it’s the one that goes step-step-step.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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