Placido Domingo-The gold and silver waltz.mp4

Dancing with my Grandfather:

I need to cheer myself up today and so I share this happy memory, in my case much more memorable than Luther Vandross', 'Dancing with my Father'. The gold and Silver Waltz.....................

It takes me back to a Sunday morning in my early adolescence. My Grandfather lived with us at the time. My parents had gone out for a drink at the club. My mother would return first, to finish cooking Sunday lunch. and my father would stay on for a while to enjoy a game or two of snooker. Grandpa and I  were  left alone together. The unspoken assumption was that we would look after each other and keep each other occupied. The law against leaving minors unattended was thus observed. I don't know whose idea it was to put 'the Gold and Silver Waltz' on the record player. I think it was mine, but it was he who suggested we should dance,. with all the courtly gravity and grace of his generation. The record was a single made by the Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. I still have it and I only have to see it to be reminded of this incident with my 'Grandpa' whom I loved dearly..

Our sitting room was large, and there was plenty of room to dance. So there we were happily waltzing together and leaving unsaid any complaint about being left at home with each other. They were moments of  uncomplicated happiness, such that I have rarely known since.That music is so poignant to me. It was then, and is even more so now. If I close my eyes I am dancing with him still. When I open them, it is always to thank God for this happy memory, for the security of my childhood and to pray for the soul of my grandfather.