...in which bowling balls float

For the fourth time in the last week or so, I woke up next to Melody this morning. We went to a dance at Glen Echo (just outside DC) and she taught me to waltz... and we did. I was not horrible, which amazed me, though I am really starting to feel conscious of my own size. That I can still move gracefully at all is a surprise to me, because a lot of the time I do feel a little awkward and have become tired of looking at my own guts. Melody's house has many mirrors in it -- in fact, one whole wall of her dining room is mirrored, and the sliding doors of her bedroom closet are all mirrored.

So Sunday, we went waltzing. It was marvelous. She wore a really light dress she refers to as a "tea-dance dress," and we took lunches and some water and went to the dance. We eventually settled into a groove and were able to feel how the other was moving... I can see why she likes it so much. I felt horribly awkward for a while, then quite happy. This was intended as a sort of learning session for a more formal waltz ball they're having there next Saturday.

I had the white Saab with me this weekend... the silver-blue one has been being grumpy lately and the white one has felt neglected, so I pulled it out, topped it up with coolant and took it to Melody's. I am astonished at how much quieter and more pleasant it is. The other one handles better and is faster, but Elena, the white Saab, is more refined, quieter and smoother. It seems to fit with Melody better.

Sleeping with Melody is a peaceful, pleasant experience. We have not had sex yet, in case you're curious, but just... sleeping with her is a calming and satisfying thing. We talk for a while, we curl up around each other, we split and rejoin during the night, we wake up about the same moment and ease each other into wakefulness. She isn't one of those women who jump up and are an instant blur of... tasks. And I cannot ever imagine her nagging me to get up, because she, too, would like to sleep longer.

"I wish it was Sunday again," she said this morning as we looked at each other looking back at ourselves in the closet-door mirrors. "That way we wouldn't have to go to work, and we could just stay with each other for another day."

A few minutes went by, and she said, "yep, my neighbors will think we're sleeping together."

"We ARE," I told her. "We're just not having sex."