One more diary entry to share, this time not about first love but about the love of my life to whom I am now married. A few years ago I blogged about how Mr Esther and I got together, our first kiss happpened on the morning after a long date night. Before that first kiss there was also a first slow dance. Yet again, this is another memory triggered by Anne with an E (obsessed much? Nah! 😉 ) The memory was already triggered a few weeks ago, during episode 5, when Anne and Gilbert first danced. (Beware of spoilers ahead in the videos).
If you care to see the whole dance scene, it can be seen in this video. I promise you, the scene is magical.
What happens is that Anne and Gilbert dance and at some point they forget the world around them and become completely engrossed in each other, with the music fading away and the couple dancing in slow motion. And I swear that such a moment can happen as well in real life! It happened when Mr Esther and I first danced. We’d been dancing the night away at a disco and in the early hours of morning, close to closing time, the music slowed down and we finally slow danced together for the first time. Our dance was nothing like the choreographed Anne and Gilbert dance. We both aren’t great dancers, we just slow-dance-shuffled. I wrote about it in my diary that same evening on Sunday, January 26th, 1992:
” I’ll never forget the last two numbers, they were slow dance songs. Somehow we landed in each other’s arms. I don’t remember anything of the first song, just that it was slow and that we were holding each other very close and tight. I had my head against his shoulder, he had his chin on my head or to the side of my face most of the time. We hardly moved, just swayed along with the music. I’ll never forget what went through me. I completely sank against his body and allowed us to go cheek to cheek occasionally. Occasionally we said something but mostly I savoured the moments with my eyes closed. The second song was Chris Isaac’s “ Wicked Game”. I’ll never forget that I couldn’t hold him close enough. I loved him so much as we danced. He was holding me tight too. Then the lights went on and the time had come to close up the place. We sat down and talked and at about 5 a.m. we left.”
To this day, neither of us can remember what that first song was that we slow danced to. We were so engrossed in each other and in how much we were feeling, that the world around us completely disappeared. I still remember the sensations, the wonder of finally being in his arms, feeling his head on my mine, feeling his cheek against mine, rarely daring to really look at each other but still being very close and feeling all these feelings… It felt momentous and the memory still warms my heart today, close to 28 years later. I had never felt something like that before and the world has never quite disappeared around me again like that since. It really was a once in a lifetime feeling. By the second slow dance song, the music finally filtered through to us again. We neither of us particularly love that Chris Isaac song and yet that song will always be special to me.
After that Anne with an E episode aired, I was in full on video-making mode and I wanted to make a video about that dance scene. With all these memories unleashed of my first dance with Mr Esther, guess which song I chose for that fan video? Yep, that’s right: “Wicked Game”, only I chose a cover version instead of the Chris Isaac version.
We are gearing up to the final season 3 Anne with an E episode this coming Sunday. The past episode showed Gilbert remembering his dance with Anne again…
https://twitter.com/i/status/1196233828169326592
… and I can so understand how even only remembering it can stop your heart there for a few moments! It triggered my happy first dance memory again as well and is also the reason for this post. 🙂
Moira Walley-Beckett, who writes and produces Anne, just posted this behind-the-scenes picture on her Instagram account from an iconic after-the-dance scene, only this picture is far less angsty than the actual scene was:
Anyway, with this season nearing it’s end, I know I will miss it so much! There is no confirmation yet whether there will be a season 4 but with all I have in me, I so hope that Anne with an E will be renewed! Where do I have to send my letter? And hey, if I can help with crowdfunding or something, I am so there… In the meantime, I guess I will just have to console myself with more fan videos.