The night we danced

People often ask, "when did you know?" about when someone realized they had found their person.

Ours is my favourite story to tell.

The day I realized, was the night we danced.

It was that night in the twilight, my eyes low and my body buzzing from the perhaps glasses too many of gin, the sole light in the living room completely blurring out everything that wasn’t you— when I knew.

I felt a kind of safety I had never experienced before. Time stood completely still.

It was like we were the only people in the world. Sometimes it still feels that way.

I asked you to dance with me.

I’ve never been a particularly skilled dancer, but I’ve always loved to dance. It is one thing that has never failed to make me feel free.

It helps me lose my inhibitions and be present in my body, no matter how graceful or how goofy I may appear.

Asking you to dance— a seemingly innocent, intoxicated query, may have felt like an insignificant question.

But to me, it was an invitation.

It was me asking you to see all of me, without hesitation.

All I’d ever wanted was someone to dance with.

You looked at me, smiled that thousand-watt smile of yours and without pausing, took my hand and pulled me in close.

We clumsily slow danced in the living room, stumbling and laughing between kisses, your two-left feet attempting to guide me around the room as we swayed side to side.

I felt simultaneously giddy and alive, yet peaceful, calm and at ease.

While we floated around the room and got completely lost in the moment and in each other it occurred to me that you also offered me an invitation.

You swiftly falling in line with my rhythm or lack thereof showed me I didn’t need to be anything other than exactly myself.

Having you take my hand in yours, beaming with pride as you saw me in my entirety showed me I had never truly felt seen until I was lucky enough to meet your eyes.

In that one blurry, magical, warm night we danced, I was more me than I’ve ever been in my entire life.

And I’ve been dancing ever since.

So when they ask when I knew, I tell them the story about how I never truly felt seen until I was lucky enough to meet your eyes.

And despite love being a concerted effort between two souls, I never had to do much other than exist, in order to be loved by you.

What a gift it is, to experience the love of a lifetime, and all one has to do— is just be.