The Invite
I wasn’t sure. Should I take the plunge and dive right in? I knew there was a large possibility of failure, as I had not much success in these situations. It was a week after Hurricane Gloria had hit. Not everyone had their power back. I wasn’t even sure if I got the invitation correctly. It was only a verbal invite. But Barbara did say come to her house and join her for their house party that Saturday night and not to bring anything. She was a party person and it was through my Contra Dance playing that I got the invite. So the hope was that being there I would know other people and it wouldn’t be as threatening as if I were the only unknown.
The party was to start at 9:00. As I tentatively drove through the darkened, powerless streets every possible thing that could go wrong went through my head. Was I really invited? Did I get the date and time correct? Who else was going to be there?
I was a little early arriving at their house and noticed that there were only a couple of cars in the driveway. Not a good sign. All my usual fears of uncertainty were activated.
So did I boldly go where no me has ever gone? The correct answer is no, I did not. I decided to leave before I even got out of my car. My insecurities at being embarrassed temporarily got the best of me.
Now in normal situations like this, I would have just driven home. I knew Barbara had invited a number of other people to the party, so me not being there wouldn’t have been noticed, probably. I got about a mile away from their house when I decided I would wait a while. I waited for about half an hour, well past the supposed start of the party, and then summoned up what courage I had and drove back to her house.
On returning, there were now more cars in their driveway and on the street. A good sign. So I decided to go in.
Barbara shared a house with 6 other housemates, none of which I knew except one woman that I had seen on the dance floor at some of the Contra dance events, and who I may have even danced with once at one of them. Her name was Christina.
It turned out that Christina and I danced a lot more than just one dance that night. When we said goodbye at the end of the evening, we said we would speak again. And the surprising thing about that conversation, unlike others I had had in previous encounters with the opposite sex, we did in fact, communicate again.
On October 5th, we will celebrate the 35th anniversary of our meeting and I will have known her half of my life. Sometimes it’s good to have concerns and worries about doing something or taking risks and then there are other times when you need to trust yourself and dive right in. I’m glad on October 5th, 1985, I took the plunge.
