Save the last dance

I tend not to blog about the things I’m disappointed about, as I try to stay positive and put them behind me.

It’s why there was never a blog about the group anniversary dinner I went to a week and a half after switch-on.

I had a great night, and coped OK with most of the group discussion, even though the restaurant was very loud.

What I'd been disappointed about was the music.

Jase had looked over at me happily during one point of the evening. When I’d looked back at him a bit cluelessly, he asked if I could hear ‘our song’.

‘Our song’ is Save the last dance by Michael Buble. It was (ironically) our first dance on our wedding day. To have it randomly played by the restaurant during the night we were celebrating our anniversary was like a moment straight out of a movie. It was too coincidental. But I could not hear it.

I frowned and strained hard to hear it amidst the background noise, but I just couldn’t pick it out from the general chatter, cutlery hitting plates, etc. I couldn’t pick out that there was music being played at all.

I shrugged it off at the time, but I was a bit disappointed. I thought I might not ever be able to distinguish music from background noise.  That background noise would continue to be a strange jumble of mixed sounds. 

Last night, I discovered otherwise.

Jase and I were at a friend’s wedding, sitting comfortably in our seats, having just eaten the first course of our dinner. Then the band started playing. Not only could I hear the music, I could also recognise it. When I heard a Buble song (Sway) being played, I grinned at Jase and we headed straight out onto the dance floor. (I did have to ask him if it was the Buble version being played – distinguishing different voices in music is still tricky for me.)

I hadn’t danced in this sort of situation for years! Even felt a bit clumsy for a moment there, trying to remember how to do it! Jase was a bit too nervous to spin me around, both for fear of knocking the processors off my head or triggering a vertigo attack. But we had a great time stepping around to the beat!

Then just as the song finished, I recognised the opening bars of the next song.

Save the last dance.

You couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces as we danced to our song together. 

When we got back to the table, I pretended to fumble around with something in my handbag while I wiped away a couple of happy tears.

At our wedding, when we danced to that song, we danced to a new beginning.

Last night, we danced to a different kind of beginning.

But a new beginning, all right.