He's smooth...

Dinnertime in the kitchen of our flat is never quiet or calm. Usually pots and pans are composing their own symphony of spice and sizzle. All while Xavier is providing the beat on the garbage cans with his improvised drumsticks. The radio is on and tuned to the oldies channel as we prepare dinner, eat and clean up. It's time for us to reconnect after the day is done. Sometimes there's a toast with wine, sometimes there's just cheers with apple juice.

What I love most about dinner is the music. The troubles of the present day fade away with the sounds of the past. One night this past week, Xavier and I are dining in. The Eagles come on with "Take it Easy". Xavier says "this is a good song" and we dance. He's doing a 3 year old version of break dancing and I'm just moving around the kitchen.

Then, Xavier leads me into the middle of kitchen starts to dance with me. He's charming. He asks for my hands... and we're partner dancing.


My 3 year old son is leading me around the kitchen. ...And doing a really good job of it.


After a while at being frustrated with the height difference, he moves from typical partner dancing ... to Charleston. My son is leading me in side by side Charleston. He has arm wrapped around the top of my leg and we're doing the Charleston... to the Eagles... in the kitchen. My heart is melting at this moment.


Possibly the hardest part of being a parent is that your life, and specifically your social life, goes from great to nonexistent. When I had Xavier, I gave up dancing, "temporarily". I can't go to a social dance that starts at 10pm when my little boy will be up at 6 am... and I miss it. Dancing had become so important to me while I was in college because it provided me a forum to be social and exercise without forcing myself to be social or forcing myself to exercise. I went dancing every week. However, moments like this remind me that it's just a temporary absence. Even if it feels like life marches on without me, I find myself dancing in my kitchen with my young son.