How Kelley Got Her Groove Back.....

"MOVE! FEEL the MUSIC!.....", she shouted over the deafening volume of the song. I had to smile....sweat dripping down my face, hips gyrating, feet flying - arms jerking to the tribal beat....because my awe inspiring, drill sergeant Zumba instructor had just hit the proverbial nail on the head. If only she could have shouted those words to me LAST year.
   It has been a year....372 days to be exact, since I wrote my first Blog - it was about being stuck in Mid Life. As I re-read it now, I realize I was not just stuck - I was plummeting towards the downward spiral of no return. I was miserable, and old....and in pain - physically and mentally.....and fat.....very fat. I could see nothing ahead of me...I was in trouble.
   What a difference 372 days can make in a persons life. They have been 372 days of loss and sorrow, pain and trouble, more loss, new life AND renewed life and laughter....and music.....and movement. In March, when I decided to loose a few pounds so I could buy a decent dress, I could have never imagined that I would be sitting here in September - 69 pounds lighter, Moving and Feeling the Music!
   I have always loved to dance - once upon a time I got paid good money to dance - 5 to 6 shows a week (Get your minds out of the gutter, there were no poles involved - theatrical dance, not that other kind....). 372 days ago, there was not much dancing going on.... it was mostly shuffling and limping.....Two months ago, I stepped into a classroom - complete with an entire wall of mirrors. I stood in the back row, telling myself I was just there to encourage Baby and Babiest. - they wanted to try Zumba. I thought that I would make it through the first song or two, slip quietly out and walk on the treadmill while I waited for them to finish their class....after the first song, I knew I was hooked.Our instructor is a dynamo - an amazing dancer, and an effective motivator. And the music....it gets into your blood....and the dancing itself....the moving....it reminded me that I was alive.
  It wasn't a pretty sight at first - me trying to remember how to dance. My form was terrible, and my endurance.....forget about it! I looked like a fish out of water - gasping for breath, but as the days went by, my form AND endurance returned....and my bodys' sense memory begged for more. Muscles and vertebrae loosened - one by one, awakening from their long sleep. I am now enthralled by my leg muscles - they WORK! They can pull me up a hill, or flights of stairs. They allow me to leap up from the sofa, and squat and bend down. Amazing things, really.
  To my beautiful Zumba instructor - I would say, "I DO feel the music.....all the time!" More than once, I have caught myself dancing down an aisle in the Teeter, or the Wal Mart.....and sometimes, there's not even any music playing! I worry for the day that someone at Church catches me doing the Samba (Or worse still, The Wobble) down the long hall in the Children's Department. I was even chair dancing in Choir on Wednesday night! I dance in the kitchen, I dance in the driveway while Crack House Puppy plays outside (Sorry, neighbors....)...I move, and I feel the music - of life. I am re-awakened....I no longer feel old (I mean, HECK, my Zumba instructor is a year OLDER than me, and she is Fabulous!)...and while I suppose I am still a Mid Life Wife, I  feel like I should change the name of my blog to "How Kelley got her Groove Back....."........Move!.....Feel the Music!......Zumba!