A Day in October

In September of 1985  Hurricane Gloria hit Long Island. There was much devastation. I was living in an apartment in Manorville. We lost power, which lasted over a week. I left my home to visit my sister in New Jersey where she had power so that I could do simple things like take a shower and do laundry. Schools were closed so I didn’t have to work. I came back in October when some power had been returned, expecting to continue my routine life at home, by myself and at work. Little did I realize that things in my life were about to take a major turn.

In my spare time I liked to go to contra dances. I belonged to a music organization, LITMA, The Long Island Music Association, which had dances every few weeks. I also played in a contra dance band, Raw Bits, for some of those dances. At one of those dances I danced with this girl who I thought I might be attracted to. I was never the information gatherer and neglected to get her name or any information about her. That, unfortunately, is the nature of contra dancing; you tend to dance with a lot of different people and rarely unless you came with a partner dance with the same person again. As a band member, I would occasionally see her at dances but never had a chance to interact other than that chance meeting.  There was another girl at these dances that I did interact with as did most of the other people in the band. She was having a party at her house on October 5th and invited all the members of the band to it, including me.

Of course then Gloria hit. The question was whether there would be power at all when the party was supposed to take place. Power did return the day before.  Even though I didn’t usually go to those kind of events, I decided that evening that I would go.

I got there at the appropriate starting time, it was dark, and there were no cars at all in their driveway or on their street. I should point out that she shared a house with 5 other people so there should have been a number of cars there. Since I didn’t know her that well and I wasn’t sure if I got the house or time right, I decided to turn around and drive away for a while. I came back about an hour later and there were a number of cars there and I could hear music and people talking going on inside the house. I decided to to stay. Good Plan!

It was very crowded. I knew a few people, but my eye caught the eye of that unnamed girl from those dances. I decided to ask her to dance. And I asked her again, and again and again.

There may have been more people at that party. I’m sure I got to talk to a few, but my eye, mind and soon my heart was captivated by this now named woman, Christina.

As the party ended, she walked me back to my car and gave me a light kiss goodnight. We exchanged phone numbers and I went home.

A few days later, I’m not sure who called who first, but we began a relationship that has lasted for the past 30 years. We were married on March 30, 1990, which we celebrate each year to honor the anniversary of our marriage. But October 5th is the day I hold more dear. It is day I truly met the one part of me that had been missing and that I hope to continue to keep for as long as I am able.