Zumba

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{THANK YOU, ladies. It was a blast. To the point that I’m a little emotional about it and the connections I made with you all tonight.}
Today I finally made it to Zumba!!! Julie, one of my friends from work, has been inviting me to come to class with her and another friend from work, Laurie, and I just never got it together- either my cycle was off from theirs, one of us was getting our evaluation that week, it was a busy week… We came up with lots of reasonable excuses why it just wasn’t working. Then, I was set to go last week, things fell through, and all of the sudden there was this moment where all the stars aligned and suddenly it wasn’t just me going, we were two more with Christina and Jessica, too, for today! It became a must-attend event, so I packed my gym bag and got ready.
I walked into the exercise studio without a clue as to what to expect. I had taken the wrong route to the most impossible-ever-to-find toilet- I actually stopped and asked a topless woman in the locker room where the toilets were before I made it to the gym (I’m sorry, ma’am- I was in a hurry and didn’t even process your state of undress until I was in the stall and realized what the strange look on your face meant… )! By the time I made it to Zumba, it had started and I joined Julie and Laurie, the experienced ones, who were full of grace as they easily executed the moves our instructor was showing.
They made it look sooooo easy. We all laughed a lot- but not at anyone. It was just ridiculously FUN! I smiled for most of the time. Well, I’ll admit that maybe we laughed a little at ourselves and the folly of trying to get the moves down. Honestly, I couldn’t have laughed at anyone else anyhow if I had wanted to. I didn’t have time! I could not look away from our instructor or the woman in front of me for a moment. In, at least this particular Zumba class, the moves don’t repeat as much as I’m used to. I’m sure after a while of doing the class that you’d get used to it, but it wasn’t set up in Jillian Michael’s kinds of circuits; it was fresh, over and over, and just when I’d get the hang of one step we’d start a different one! And just when I’d think that I was getting this Zumba thing down, the song would switch and some bizarro double-time-kick-up-your-heels-while-also-spinning-and-doing-long-division-in-mid-air* move would be introduced. If I couldn’t get it by watching, I’d count like a dancer in 3:4 time and if I still couldn’t get it I would just hop around in place to keep my blood flowing. I felt silly doing the wrong thing, but I’d have felt sillier standing still or getting frustrated.
I want to join the gym. I never thought I’d say that. I loved the class and am trying to finagle a way to procure 300 in spare pocket change to go toward a two year membership that’s available at Costco right now. Decisions, decisions. If I went once a week, only during the school year, the price would average out to about 5.00 per class, but I’m pretty sure I could use it more. The gain is the friendship connections in addition to the class. These are good people who I played with today and I’d like to spend more time with them, but I suck at maintaining friendships outside of work. This could be a way to do that. The downside is that Bradley and I are workout buddies and it would be more hours away from the babies. We rely on one another for that partnership and I hate to think of him missing workouts without me. And kid life. It flies fast and an hour seems like nothing until they are all compounded and you realize you chose to spend days away from them… Over-think things much, Tamara???
Like I said, decisions, decisions…
And yes. I am the person who asks all of her comrades to pose for a sweaty-faced post-workout picture because I think that a sweaty, post-workout face is a beautiful, proud and happy face.

*made up- not a real move.

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