It was 2003; both Sandy and I, unknown to each other, found ourselves rediscovering our heritage, through dance, at the Atrium dance studio in New Jersey. It was a weekday night, and I was at yet another after-work salsa dance event. This one was different though. It was in the top live jazz venue in Philadelphia; Zanzibar Blue. Latin jazz is one of my favorite music genres and I had been there before. My friend Alex and I had settled into the dark brown, soft leather lounge chairs, besides the stately classic dark wood wrap-around bar. The main dining room was to the front right of where we sat. To the left of the dining room was the elevated platform where the great jazz bands of the time would play--where I had seen Arturo Sandoval play just a year ago. To our left, were the stairs that lead up to the entrance. The bar oozed class; as I imagined the higher-end clubs in Cuba must have; Clubs like the Monsignor in Havana.

I forget exactly what Alex and I were talking about. What I DO remember was when she walked in. I stopped mid-sentence as we were stunned silent by her overwhelming beauty. She was dressed in business causal attire. I'm sure she was coming from work. She had dress pants on, black with a near-white colored top; not too revealing--very classy. Her hair was let down, perfectly complimenting the model-like contours of her face. In spite of her best efforts however, her guitar-like figure could not be subdued. We must have had our jaws on the floor because she turned, smiled, and greeted us warmly as she proceeded to join her friends at the bar. I can only imagine that we mumbled something nonsensical before she went on, making her smile to herself as she ignored the drool that surely must have been obvious by now.

After snapping out of our comas, Alex turned to me and half-musing said, "Wouldn't you love to be her boyfriend?"

"I would love to be her anything!" I said, perhaps a little too loudly. Then, in a moment of insanity, I leaned over and whispered "She's already my girlfriend...I just have to figure out how to tell her."

Alex laughed aloud; I just smiled.

Here's to moments of insane clarity and the dreams they make come true!