It felt as if I had known Janet all my life, but, only since we were in high school. We attended different schools, but our common bond was church where we attended with a shared group of friends. After years of separation from each other and separate marriages, we both found ourselves divorced.
During this time of separation though continuing to live in the same city, I had undertaken to learn ballroom dancing, a vow I had made to myself after my separation and ultimate divorce. My ex-wife had no interest in any such activity we could do together. I had thought that it might bring us closer. But, no.
My ex-wife had falsely accused me of having an affair with a video store clerk turned dance instructor so the original idea of taking dance lessons was doomed to failure when we arrived for our first lesson and noted the presence of the former video store clerk at the dance studio as an instructor.
After the divorce, I was able to successfully take dance lessons without the burden of my ex-wife complaining about it. I found that Janet was similarly involved with ballroom dancing the first time we encountered each other at a dance. Thereafter, we would meet occasionally under the same roof to enjoy this past time together.
As already stated, after the first disastrous experience taking dance lessons while still married, when I first separated from my wife, I vowed that I would do two things even if it killed me: 1) I would enjoy a Caribbean cruise because my wife never wanted to do anything like that, and 2) I would learn how to ballroom dance.
So, it was under these circumstances that I found myself sitting with Janet and talking to her week after week at a local dance studio and the weekend immediately prior to my first ever cruise. Before she and I would see each other again, I would embark on a cruise to the western Caribbean and be gone for a whole week.
We always enjoyed our time together at the ballroom and vowed to get back together upon my return. The following Friday, I drove to the cruise terminal and found myself surrounded by passengers in the throes of Halloween costumes and who were otherwise unrecognizable. Being on board the ship for the first time, I had a hard time discerning what was real and what was not until the first morning after. I saw all sorts of goons and goblins as well as Dracula participating in a Karaoke session.
I had a wonderful time on board the ship visiting each port of call on the ship's itinerary and I returned the following weekend. Since I had no one to accompany me on my cruise and had the cabin to myself, I managed to coax a few women into dancing with me along the way, but not many. My dance experiences would have gone much better if I had had a resident dancing cruise mate to accompany me. That situation was corrected on subsequent cruises.
Upon my return, I made plans to return to the dancing arena and hopefully to see Janet again. As expected, she was present and ecstatic upon my return. She was excited (really excited) to see me and gave me a big hug. She was extremely interested in hearing of my exploits during the cruise.
Apparently, she had missed me quite a bit and told me so. We talked throughout the evening during and between dances. Things were going so well at the dance that I suggested we take things up a notch and commit to an official date which we had not enjoyed up to that point. Several days later we found ourselves in a local restaurant catching up on the events of my cruise.