My husband and I renewed our vows this week. It was gorgeous. We had close friends and family and a very small gathering in our backyard. I used the occasion as a chance to really doll up our new deck and to turn the kid’s small playhouse into a magical cottage, complete with fairy lights and flowers. And it was beautiful and everything I’d hoped for, and for the very first time in a long time, my husband and I danced.
If you’ve spent the better part of the past six years listening to kid songs and grooving along to the Hot Dog dance on Mickey Mouse, your dancing style will start to change. I figured this out when my husband wisely suggested that we practice dancing before our vow renewal and I didn’t glide gracefully across the floor, as I imagined I would, but instead kind of swayed back and forth with a tiny hopping motion. I’d been taken over by the cartoon style of dancing, and still moved as if I was holding a small toddler in my arms and trying to elicit a giggle. In fact, I didn’t really move my legs and feet that much at all, and when I did, I kind of tripped over myself, my husband, or anything else within stepping distance. I wasn’t just bad, I was awful. Not that I was a star on the dance floor before children, but I did at least have some coordination. Gone, gone, gone.
Luckily, my husband has a sense of humor and a ton of patience. Annoyingly, he did remember how to dance, but I quickly forgave him. And I practiced. A LOT. And slowly my feet remembered how to move in rhythm again. And when we finally did dance at our vow renewal, I didn’t fall over or break any toes. I consider that a success.
It’s true that we can fall into habits and behaviors pretty easily if they are present in our everyday life. And when we stop using a certain skill, it can quickly grow rusty. When it comes to dancing, it just took some practice, some patience, and steel tipped shoes to protect my husband’s toes. When it comes to staying on top of your finances and making good decisions when it comes to spending, saving and budgeting, it takes discipline, goals, and a little grace for the occasional splurge. After a few weeks of planning our party and spending a little more freely than we normally do, I noticed myself being a little more liberal with our budget than normal, throwing more extras into the grocery cart, and basically stepping all over our budget’s toes. But once I realized how quickly these little extras were adding up, it was time to get back on track and start dancing towards financial success again. I’m Claire, the Afena blog mom. Thanks for reading.