Motivation

There is a song in Rent that asks how a year is measured. Is it measured in minutes, inches, midnights, cups of coffee...you get the point. This year has been so full it's hard to measure it in anything but blurry events. It's been full of babies, first steps, moves, school, tantrums, attitude and tears. But looking ahead I see my 35th birthday, a storm taking shape on the horizon, just in view and seemingly stationary even though it's not. Today in the sort of exuberance that only comes from a looming birthday I dusted off my Zumba DVD and did a workout. As I'm typing this almost 30 minutes later my heart is still beating like I'm sprinting. The muscle memory of all those Zumba classes quickly returned but the lumberous body I now posses made it seem like I was lugging an elephant around my living room. Before the first song was over I was debating whether I should remind Gabriella how to dial 911. Yet I persevered, I made it through the grueling 20 minute express work out, slowing only once to crank the air conditioner down to arctic. I suppose the most motivating voice was not in my head but on the couch, casually studying my every move. Gabriella had a comment about every single thing I did. It reminded me why I use to do this workout when she was at school. The first thing she noticed was how young the people on the video were and how small their tummy's were. After my comment about how I was doing the workout to decrease my own tummy she studied her own pensively for a few moments before returning to her commentary. She noted that I didn't lift my feet as much as the dancers, that I wasn't jumping and that I wasn't showing my tummy while I danced. When it was all over I announced that I was going to take a shower, her response was "why?. But once I turned around to face her, sweaty and gasping for breath, she responded "oh, I see". I can't say I'll be working out in front of the peanut gallery very often. I use to do this video in front of the little girls they were much less vocal. However, that was months ago and who knows what kind of squeals and giggles I would get from them now, plus they don't know how to dial 911...yet.