Lately, all I've written about is what makes me sad. Today I realized I was smiling as I drove to cardio class. Smiling on the way to torture class? What was that all about?
I love sunny days, and we have experienced a crisp autumn full of them. The leaves have changed slowly, and they were gorgeous this year. I love the bright yellow and red leaves as they shimmer in the sky. This season seemed like payback for a skimpy spring when my flowering trees were severely damaged by a late freeze that left them unable to fully blossom. In fact, the dogwood seems to barely be hanging on. But I'm raking up the leaves as they finally fall, and it's the kind of exercise I don't mind. For a little while. Before I get too cold or I step in poop as I rake. Or it's time for "The Young and the Restless."
The belly dancing class I'm taking could be called belly laughing. The teacher comes to class dressed in character, dangling earrings, bracelets, coin belts, I Dream of Jeanie pants, and her velvet bras. I wear sweats and baggy t-shirts around which I tie my bedraggled coin belt. Over my ragged breathing, I'm supposed to hear it jingle when I shake my hips. Rose's movements are flowing, graceful, and straight out of Bollywood. We mimic our teacher and feel like goddesses. I can see what my classmates really look like, and I can only imagine how ridiculous I look, so I smile and laugh for the whole hour. I love these ladies with their beet red faces. Afterwards, a hot shower feels therapeutic as every muscle in my body aches from the exertion. I can imagine, dear reader, that you too are smiling as you picture a bunch of arthritic sixty years olds in sweatpants wiggling their flabby hips and jelly bellies in time to exotic music. Laugh all you want, but as the teacher says, we are keeping our lady parts vibrant! Ha! Can you say the same?
I love my trivia team. Once a week we meet in Port and set out to beat Trainwreck. We'd like to beat everybody, but they have been our friendly rivals since the good old casino days, so beating them is especially gratifying. We are one of the smaller teams, but we are probably the loudest, and maybe even the most obnoxious. Every time I think I'm saying 'Oh shit' to myself, I just have to look at Trainwreck staring at us to see I've yelled again. We argue over everything. Because I sit across from her, I've come to recognize that Clare gets a certain look on her face when she's disgusted with us, but she's going to let us give our dumb answer. We have developed "the Pose" for members whose right answers were rejected by the team. Someone strikes the pose by leaning back in their chair, folding their arms in front of them, and sneering, sneering, sneering. I like to use the word "Wanamakers" when I strike the pose. (Team L&B, you know why.) We cheer over everything we answer correctly. We have no humility. I absolutely love my teammates and my Wednesdays!!! The fact that we are on the fast track to semi-finals is pretty exhilarating, too.
St. John's Food Cupboard also makes me really happy. Times right now in our country are hard, hard, hard. I make no bones about it; I despise our so-called president and question the motives of the repubs trying to pass legislation that screws the common person. But every time we open our doors and share food and friendship with our clients, I feel like we are positively impacting our crazy world. I'm the greeter, the attendance taker, the Paperwork Bitch, the sympathetic listener, and the first friend. I sympathize with their tales of woe, I worry when a regular misses a week, I rejoice when something has gone right for one of them, and I flatter them by remembering their names. In a world that sometimes feels hopeless, I feel hopeful when I see myself and my church friends making a real difference. They care about me too. They're concerned that I need to set up shop outside in order to do my job correctly. Sometimes it's melting hot; lately it has been freezing cold. One of my ladies told me last Friday that if I don't start wearing a hat she'd going to bring me earmuffs because she worries about me being cold. She worries about me.... I love "my peeps."
Realizing that the holiday season is upon us and has been upon us since early October, I smile knowing I am soon going to start saying "Happy Holidays" just because this snowflake can!!! Take that, Faux News!
