Must Like Dancing

Please welcome my fabulous friend and regular guest blogger, Maria Grazia Swan. Take it away, Maria...



Can you dance?

I’m not much of a dancer. Even in my younger years, I loved dancing cheek to cheek with whoever was the boy of the day (or night), but anything else, nope. Once I was married and stayed that way for 25 years, the dance subject meant nothing. Until lately. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. Is there some kind of dance revival that I don’t know about? Is it because of Dancing with The Stars? Suddenly my friends are getting into dancing.

I’m still living in my huge house, the one I can no longer afford, but until it sells, I’m here. So, I invite friends to come and visit God knows where I’ll move to once this dream home is sold. Let’s enjoy while we can. I love people, and I love my friends even more. Until they ask me to take them dancing!
So a girlfriend visits from Texas. She is a little older than I am and she tells me she would like to go dancing on Saturday night. She even shows me the outfit, the shoes, the whole shebang she brought. I’m a little surprised, not in a good way, but before passing judgment, I decide I need more information.

“You wanna go dancing because you like to dance or because you hope to meet a man?”

“I love to dance,” she says, looking straight into my eyes. I’m guessing she is telling the truth. Now I’m stuck. Think, think.

While she is hanging up her clothes I grab “Calendar” an insert that comes weekly with the local paper. It carries a list of social events. I lock myself in the bathroom with my reading glasses and the Calendar. Thank God, I find something that sounds good and is on a decent side of town.

We spent most of Saturday shopping at local discounts stores, mostly at The Last Chance, Nordstrom’s ultimate outlet. It’s the only one of its kind in the states—that alone is worth a trip from Dallas. I’m secretly hoping she’ll be too tired to go dancing.

Wrong!

A little after 8, wearing our sparkly dresses, and enough bling bling to stock a hardware store, we get in my car and we go…dancing.

I could have been a total bitch and driven her to an Arthur Murray place. They dance there, don’t they? Instead I kept the illusion alive by taking her to a singles dance. I happen to know the organizer, not because I go the dances, but because as a Realtor, I represented the couple who bought his house. But my friend didn’t know that. We walk in and Mr. Organizer gave a big welcome and refused to take an entry fee from me or my friend. Score one! My Texas friend was totally impressed.

“You must be coming here often if they don’t even charge you for.”

“You said it.” See? I didn’t lie.

The rest of the evening was pure torture for me, but my friend had a ball.
She called last week and asked if she can come back to visit soon, if I haven’t sold my house, that is.

Need a house anyone?


~Maria Grazia Swan

Maria Grazia Swan is an author and motivational speaker who shares
relationship advice and guidance for women re-entering the social/dating
scene. Maria empowers and encourages single women to be bold, fearless, and
sexy in their pursuit of life and love after age 45. An award recipient from
the Women’s National Book Association, Swan is the author of Boomer Babes:
True Tales of Love and Lust in the Later Years (Leisure Books). Visit
http://www.mariagrazia.tv