Still Dancing

 Still Dancing

Noel Laflin

1-29-23

We celebrate an anniversary as it was this day in January, 2015 that we were married at the old courthouse in Santa Ana.

The ceremony was brief, but charming, in the alcove set aside for such happenings; the celebrant and witness were two lovely young women who worked there; and the three quarters put into the meter in the parking lot gave us enough time to see everything through. It’s a good thing, too, as I am not sure we had another quarter had things run a bit longer. Our intention was to just get a license, but when the offer to do the deed that very day presented itself by lovely lady number one, well, we said, “Heck, why not!” She smiled, left her post at the counter, and within a minute returned now dressed in a fine wedding cloak. Her assistant placed a sign on the counter saying that they would be back shortly, and followed us into the next room to bear witness. There were hugs all around afterward with these awesome strangers, who had now become instant friends. And there was even time to spare on the parking meter outside.

My folks ran off and eloped some eighty years ago, too, and things worked out well for them, so I suppose that could have been a distant prompt of sorts. They had only known one another for about a year. David and I had the advantage of getting to know one another for nearly fifteen years up until that point, so I guess we knew all about ‘for better or worse, sicker or poorer’, etc. But it was good to hear it aloud and swear by it.

Anyway, it proved to be a fine decision on our part.

To quote Thornton Wilder, “People are meant to go through life two by two. ‘Taint natural to be lonesome.” Had I been more prepared that morning, I would have had our new friend add that part as it also reminds me of dancing, something that brought the two of us together in the first place.

Nevertheless, thank you Thornton and those other two familiar ghosts for whatever role you all may have played. But mostly, thank you David for deciding to go through life, with me, like synchronized dance steps, two by two. Sometimes it's slow-slow, followed by quick-quick, or maybe just a lovely waltz or shadow dance, but the goal is to never let go of one another as long as the music plays.