Bluegrass Romance

A few weeks back my husband surprised me with one of our best dates of all time: private dance lessons for the two of us.

We learned how to dance Rumba to Lady in Red (which is an uber-romantic song to begin with– throw in slow-dancing with the love of your life and it is kinda over the top… in the best way possible, of course).

Mr.Cecil get’s an A++ for effort and execution on the whole evening (note to husbands: Below you will find 5 romantic date ideas. Don’t let them go to waste! Give at least one of them a try. Your wife will be muy appreciative):

- He took care of arranging a babysitter (this alone is very romantic)
- He bought fresh bread, olives and wine and took me to a quiet park for appetizer picnic (it was easy to imagine we were somewhere in Europe)
- He did not tell me where we were going but told me what to wear (heels I could dance in)
- He walked me up to a studio where our instructor, the fabulous Chris Padgett, was waiting for us with a bottle of red wine
- He put down his pride and earnestly tried to learn the steps
- He took me to a wonderful dinner after wards where we ate outside and enjoyed the warm summer evening

Yes, this was a 5-Star date night. What meant so much to me was that my husband took the time and effort to do something special that he knew I had been longing to do. I know now he was truly listening all those times I mentioned how awesome it would be to be on “Dancing with the Stars”.

A life of romance and adventure calls for taking date nights seriously. Women love grand gestures. We also love the kind of simple pleasures and joy we can create in our everyday rounds.

Maybe one day our lifestyle will be such that private dance lessons and dinners downtown will be part of our “regularly scheduled program.” For now, though, (with our credit cards still frozen in the freezer), these activities are very special and rare affairs.

So the challenge is: How to create romance on a budget. Our latest mini-mission conquered this challenge by bringing elements of that exciting date night out back home.

No. 25: Dance Rumba in the Backyard

We plugged our iphones into speakers and turned on Pandora to the “Luis Miguel” station…and just started stepping on each other’s feet dancing.

It doesn’t matter that we only know four steps, or that we botch the rhythm more than we get it right. What matters is that the music is playing, we are close, we are smiling and we are making memories. In all of this we are also teaching our son that marriage can be a fun, ongoing adventure.

Lucca loves seeing us in-love…and we love showing him what a happy marriage looks like.

We try to dance whenever we get a few minutes. Our favorite time to practice is in the evening, waiting for dinner to cook. I daydream about living in a county like Spain where dancing is a part of the culture. For now, we have eachother and our backyard. And that is kind of all we need. Oh yes, and this ridiculous music video of an 80s Miguel (YouTube helps keeps the mood light, full of laughter, which is helpful when your toes keep getting squashed).

P.S. If you are single, don’t think you can’t get in on this fun. Check out Bluegrass Mini-Mission No 16: Salsa Dancing Solo