Belly Dancing Mama

   Who knows what makes the mind of a woman tick, especially my mind when I’ve made the decision to change the course of history! I am not an all American beauty but my husband likes me. I guess I should say he loves me, most of the time. I really am glad that the love he has for me is so blind. Some days the weight gets the best of me but then there are other days.

   Like one morning when our boys were very young. I knew that he was going to have a pretty bad day at work. Men had been picketing his father’s manufacturing plant for six months and they were behaving in a most uncivilized manner, throwing nails under tires of trucks crossing the picket line and making threatening phone calls to our home.

   They had no hesitation about the words they used when my husband crossed the picket line and as the son of the owner of the company, he had to cross that picket line every day. Some days were worse than others especially since this strike had been going on for so long with no sign of ever being resolved.

   Anyway, I began to plan shortly after he left for work. With two little boys, a wife has to plan for special evenings with her husband. The day progressed as usual with little boy activity, scuffles and scrapped knees but finally their naptime arrived, just after lunch. I had high hopes that they would sleep a little longer than usual but I knew that would be a bonus so I quickly began my preparations. First, I cleaned the house from top to bottom and then I stepped into a hot steaming shower. I wanted to appear all fresh when he came home.

   Just before three that afternoon, my little angels woke up. They became their usual Curious George impersonators, which meant that my focus had to be on them exclusively till dinnertime. That evening, I planned to feed them early so that when my husband came home all he would have to do is kiss them goodnight and then the evening would be ours.

   Once the boys were settled around their dinner, I traipsed upstairs to look for the perfect outfit for the evening ahead. I took a cursory peek into my meager closet looking for something sexy to wear. There wasn’t a lot to choose from but then I noticed a sheet staring at me from the linen closet. Beginning to picture the perfect costume (forget the sexy and go for the funny look), I draped the sheet toga style over my not so skinny frame and stood back. Not bad!

   My make-up was next. As I glanced in the mirror at the blank slate that looked back at me, my creativity was interrupted by a phone call from my mate. He told me he would be home in a half hour and his mood was anything but pleasant. His day had gone as we both expected. I returned my attention to the mirror and began to paint my face. The make-up had to be a little exaggerated to go with the toga. I used a lot of shadow, plenty of liner, and very thick mascara. My hair became the finishing touch as I swept it up and then tied it with a bandana across my forehead.

   The boys giggled when they saw their mother dressed as a belly dancer of sorts. They had finished eating and were in pajamas so I decided to put them to bed before my man came home. Saying goodnight to them was fun except they kept asking where the party was and how come they couldn’t dress up for Halloween too.

   Making the decision not to take their comments to heart, I proceeded down stairs and arrived at the front door just as the sound of his car could be heard coming up the driveway. I waited patiently for his footsteps on the walkway but instead of opening the door, I got down on my hands and knees with my forehead touching the floor. My arms were stretched straight out in front of me in a manner of homage and in he walked.

   I bowed up and down saying ‘Salome. Salome’ and between bows I noticed his face begin to relax. He had really looked stormy when he walked in that door. Gracefully, for me that is, I got up and ushered him to his favorite chair. His face looked even more relaxed or was that laugh lines crinkling just beside his eyes?

   I told him to relax as I removed his work boots and slowly rubbed his feet, all the time in a servant posture. Then I rushed to the kitchen to bring in his dinner on the decorative tray I had prepared. It was spaghetti and meatballs, his favorite. Placing the tray on his lap, I leaned over and planted a kiss on his mouth. Then I turned on the stereo to some eastern sort of music and began to dance.

   The dance was supposed to be sexy but I really didn’t know how to belly dance. In fact I had only seen it done once but I improvised. I swayed this way and that performing something between a Hawaiian hula and an Egyptian belly dance. My husband’s smile got even brighter. In fact he hadn’t said one grumpy word since he’d come home and he seemed to be enjoying his meal.

   I continued swaying to the rhythm from the stereo and his body started to actually shake. Before too long he was guffawing like the best of them. In fact, he was laughing so hard the meatballs were rolling off the spaghetti. Then they were falling off the plate and onto the carpet.

   My sexy number had done the trick. He forgot the tension of the day and we had the first relaxing evening in six months. All thoughts of picketers were gone, along with the other tensions from his long day.

   Since then, I have surprised my husband a number of times at the front door and he has reciprocated with surprises of his own. For some time, he never knew what to expect when he came home and I loved those special times he planned just for us. Life was fun no matter how stressful our days became. Sometimes life got in the way of our relationship especially when the kids were teens. Those front door surprises had to hide in the closet for awhile but now as empty nesters, the surprises are back.