A Tribute to My Dance Partner

The idea for this blog was inspired by the Andrew Peterson song “Dancing in Minefields” on his album Counting Stars. I endured a long week of illness at David’s parents’ house in Siler City, NC, being cared for and driven back and forth to Dr. Vaughan in Greensboro. It was one of the hardest weeks of my life—not only was I sicker than I could ever remember feeling and scared stiff, but I was without my better half, who was in Blacksburg, VA, taking his block 2 med school finals.

I knew he’d be coming to visit me over his block break, and I looked forward to it daily, but I was saddened because before I went downhill again health-wise, I had promised him I would find a cabin for us to stay in over his break so we could get away and rest together.

We’ve had a hard first 1 ½ years of marriage; it’s not been our relationship that has been hard, but our circumstances. We have literally been dancing in minefields since the day we said, “I do.” With all this in mind, you can understand why I so desperately wanted that week break to be in a cabin, for David’s sake. I was too sick to go far away, but then I remembered a beautiful, restored cabin that David had always been fond of located just down the road from his parents’ house. It felt like a far shot in the dark, but I gave the owners a call, and they agreed to let us use it for a whole week! I was as thrilled as I had energy to be.

Even after blind-folding him and driving him around in circles on back roads to create disorientation, he figured out where we were before his eyes were uncovered. Nevertheless, he was so excited, especially about the fireplace (which we both consider to be the epitome of comfort and relaxation). It felt good to see him really smile because it had been a while.
I wish I could tell you that we enjoyed a carefree, dreamy week of cabin bliss, but unfortunately, we attract disaster. If you are one of the poor souls that endured our wedding ceremony slash tempest, you know what I’m talking about. The morning after our first night in the cabin, we awakened to several wasps crawling around the window pane. David killed them, and we decided that having the heat on had encouraged the hatching of some brand new wasp babies into the world.

The next morning, there were about 20 wasps crawling around, some of which were uncomfortably close to our head board. David killed some and set some free. It was starting to get annoying at this point, but we wanted to make it work so badly!

The third morning, there were close to 30 wasps. David decided it was time for the big guns—wasp spray. By this point, he had located where the wasps were coming through the wood. The plan was to spray into the hole to kill the wasps in the nest so we could finish our week of rustic ecstasy. NOPE, didn’t happen that way. Once David sprayed the hole, close to 100 wasps emerged and fell on the floor dead.
To make matters worse, wasps started coming out of another place in the wall—he was under attack! He sprayed and sprayed until the can was empty. The fumes were absolutely unbearable, and I was downstairs! That’s about when he read on the label, “CAUTION: Do not under any circumstances use INDOORS.” Oh, for goodness sakes.

So we retreated back to his parents’ house defeated. On the bright side, we knew we had a good story and valued the privilege of indulging in some much-needed humor. The point of telling this story wasn’t the wasps, though. It was to share what inspired this blog…let’s go back to that.

So the cabin was David’s surprise from me. But he also brought me a surprise—the Counting Stars cd! At the time, I wasn’t sleeping well, even with Ambien and Xanax, due to my constant anxiety and random panic attacks. I would play music at night in case I couldn’t sleep or if I was awakened abruptly by a panic episode, I could listen to the music and try to calm down. Counting Stars proved to be perfect for that—we listened to it every night for a week straight, and during the day, and we never tired of it. It’s that good! It’s quality music with real life lyrics that are honest about pain but always offer hope in Christ—the perfect medicine for a distraught soul.

Although the cd is great for nighttime, David bought it really to show me one song: “Dancing in Minefields”; he had heard it on the radio, and it reminded him of our lives. He went home and looked up the video, which brought tears to his eyes. We listened to it together the night he returned to me, both of us broken and exhausted, as we held each other and wept. The lyrics are as follows:

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin

'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I lose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadow lands
Till the shadows disappear

'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

So this is a tribute to the best partner I can fathom having in this dance called life. He has held me tightly in the most unimaginable of storms. No doubt, this is harder than we dreamed, but that's what the promise is for. I love you, David.