How I Met My Wife: A True Dirty Dancing Tale

The Early Years

I met my beautiful wife, Meghan, in December of 2009. I was in my late 20’s and Meghan in her low 20’s. We were professional ballroom dancers with aspirations about owning a studio one day in the future.  At the time of our meeting, I had been dancing and instructing at a studio in Fort Walton Beach, Florida for five years, and Meghan had just been certified as an instructor at a different studio an hour away.

We (our studio) were getting ready to perform a big show with Dancing With the Stars performers for a Christmas show benefit. It was a big deal, and thousands were expected to attend, so we practiced our routines for months until it was perfected. The show was held at the Sandestin Hilton, an upscale hotel in Sandestin, FL. Sandestin is a beautiful gated community surrounded by golf courses, beaches, and fine dining restaurants in the Destin area. It’s a popular location for tourism, corporate and special events, vacation rentals, and weddings.

Who’s That Girl?

Two weeks before the show, I walk into the studio one morning much like every other day. I believe it was about 8:00 AM, and I was still enjoying my morning coffee. I entered the building, and a girl was sitting at a small coffee table alone directly next to the empty ballroom. She was pretty. She sat patiently like she was waiting for something or someone. For a split second, I thought that maybe I might have had a fan. I mean, it was wishful thinking, but that thought soon diminished. I had to walk past her to get to the staff changing room, and as I got closer, she lifted her hand and with a smile said, “Hi, Chris.” I returned the salutation, though slightly confused, waved back, and continued making my way to the staff room. “How did she know me?”, I thought. Once I finally entered the back room and closed the door, a few other staff members were getting ready for rehearsal by that time, and I immediately inquired about the girl sitting by herself in the ballroom. “That’s your new partner, Meghan,” said Eric Luna. (4-time WORLD Cabaret Champion and current studio owner of Luna Ballroom in Destin, FL) Let me remind you that the show is in TWO WEEKS and was a BIG DEAL! “Okay, so this is happening,” I said once confirmed.

Kricket? Kricket??

What had happened was my original partner, Kricket, (yes, that’s her real name) went out to a bar one weekend and a barfight broke out. By sheer happenstance, one guy gets thrown into Kricket, and it instantly breaks her knee. Shows over, Kricket. So I was told that I was now responsible for teaching Meghan her part and being able to perform by showtime. No pressure, right? It’s only in two weeks. What’s the worst that could happen? ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? “Well, at least she’s attractive. This could be fun.”, I thought to myself.

Quality Time

And it was fun. We spent every hour I wasn’t on the floor teaching to rehearse our routine. We came in early, we stayed late, and we came in on weekends. Hours, and hours, and hours, we rehearsed. I even created a few reasons to rehearse just so that I could spend some more time with her. Those two weeks went by fast and it was finally showtime. I loved every minute of it. Meghan and I had more chemistry than the Periodic Table. I was crazy about her, and I knew immediately that something was different about her than most other women.

This show was set up to be performed after a LONG-DANCED ALL-WEEKEND competition. I think I had to dance over two hundred times that Friday and Saturday with students before the performance that Saturday evening. I tried to dance in front of Meghan as often as possible to show off my sweet dance moves, (Yes, I actually have a few) and more importantly, to make her laugh. We had a great time, and the routine was a success. Meghan looked stunning in her costume, and I couldn’t have been happier. We nailed the final lift at the end, which coincidentally was a very similar lift in the hit movie, Dirty Dancing: a VERY similar love story.

The After-Party

After the show, we had a cast party for the professionals in our hotel room. We stayed up for hours, until finally, Meghan called it a night and retreated back to her room. I remember feeling a little sad like I had missed an opportunity. About fifteen minutes later, Meghan returned and announced to those who were left that she had dropped her room key somewhere, so all of us immediately started searching for the key. Unbeknownst to me, the plot was a ruse to get me alone. We turned up couch cushions, bed mattresses, suitcases, and more. Within minutes, the room looked like it had been hit by a category-five hurricane. Meghan, to her shock, couldn’t believe what was happening. She wasn’t expecting the prompt readiness of her requests, so she asked me to follow her out to the hallway to look, but honestly, I think she was trying to escape the embarrassment.

There we were, a couple of young kids looking for a lost key at 4 AM in the hallway of the Sandestin Hilton. Then suddenly, I looked over as Meghan chucked her key two feet in front of her, and said, “Oh, there it is.” I was a little confused, and to be perfectly honest, I was also a little drunk, exhausted from dancing for two straight days with little to no sleep, and I was running on fumes. She picked it up, and then we looked each other in the eyes for a brief moment, even though it felt like an eternity. “Now is my chance; it’s now or never. I hope she likes me.” I thought as I leaned in for a kiss, and luckily, she kissed me back. It was a passionate one too. You know, it was the kind of kiss that had the force of a thousand waterfalls. We kissed for a good while too, and like the gentleman that I was,  retreated back to my quarters…alone. She told me to call her, and I did the very next day. We started dating and have been together ever since.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. I wasn’t looking for love at that time, but once I met Meghan, I had a funny feeling in my stomach that told me that we would have a future together. And we do. She’s the best wife and mother I could ask for. She is UNBELIEVABLY understanding, and she has been my best friend since I met her. Who we spend the rest of our lives with is, in my opinion, is one of the most important decisions we as humans have to make in our lives. Meghan lifts me up and challenges me to be the best version of myself every day, and I love her tremendously for that. It’s crazy how life turns out sometimes.