So. I've been thinking A a lot lately about friends, and their importance to my sanity.
There's nothin like having a critically-ill child to separate the weak ones in the herd, let me just tell you. I lost friends, got disappointed in friends, and, thankfully, kept a few too.
For years after Ty's death, I found myself having lots of sorta-kinda friends, and just a couple good friends. Life kept going, we all had kids, things got busy, and a lot of us lost touch. Oh, and how could I forget, there are those friends that you have BEFORE you have kids, and then when you both have kids, you realize how shitty of a parent they are, and you can't stand to be around THEIR kids.....
Yeah, sign me up for a couple of those, too! OMG....
Anyway, I digress. My point is, when you lose your core group of friends, you realize how vulnerable you are. Then, somehow, time keeps on going, and you find yourself in this wierd situation. It's almost like being single and not knowing where to search for a mate. I mean, you don't wanna pick up friends at the bar (lol). You can't score a friend at the produce section at the grocery store, and I'm pretty sure Craigslist and the Classified section in the paper would only be an invitation for rapists.
So, what does a girl do to make friends when she is all grown up with a busy life, kids and work?
SHE JOINS ZUMBA, THAT'S WHAT SHE DOES!!!!
After months of persuasion from my friend, Tracy, I nervously joined her for a Zumba class. I was so nervous I almost backed out as I pulled into the parking lot. O-M-G, what was I getting myself into?
So, first class taught me a couple of things.
1. I apparently pee when I jump. TMI, I know, but there is a whole lot of jostling that takes place in Zumba, and I feel I owe it to you to warn you!
2. I am even whiter than I had once suspected. These girls moved parts of their bodies I could not even identify, much less twirl and swirl the way they did!
3. No one was watching me. Even though I felt like an absolute idiot trying to keep up with these chicks, they didn't judge me a bit. Truth be told, they were probably just trying not to stumble to their own death with some of the maneuvers they were doing...but either way, they were so totally accepting!
I told myself I would keep going because I saw a side of Tracy I seldom saw. She was free there. She hooted and hollered in class. She laughed and had a great time, even when she looked a little crazy. I saw the freedom in her, and I wanted it!!!
It didn't take me long to start talking to some of the other girls in the class. Every shape and size, every ethnicity...we were united when we shook our booties to the latest songs on the radio.
I'll never forget the first time a GUY came into class! OMG, who was this invader of the estrogen zone? Didn't he know we were in our safe place???? The nerve of this guy!
I watched him in the mirrors at the front of class, watching his face as he bumped and grinded with all of us to some crazy songs. I thought to myself, "Surely this dude is single and here to pick up chicks." Smart move, really.
Little did I know, he was the husband of one of the girls in class. Later, we became friends.
I couldn't have predicted the friendships that would form over boob sweat, sweaty butt cracks and the thing that binds us all, the desire to better ourselves. Oh, and after-class margaritas don't hurt the situation, either!
I wound up with the best group of girlies I could have ever hoped for. We are all shapes and sizes, and we range in age from 20 something to 40 something. Somehow, we all seem to have a bond that I can't even describe. We can call each other Hooker Face, and take it as a term of endearment. We don't compete with one another, we don't judge one another. It's like Grown Up High School, only without all the bitchy snobby girls who stare when you walk by!
So, if you are looking for a way to improve yourself, try Zumba! Personally, it changed more than my outer body. It changed my inner body, too. :)
I heart you, ZUMBA HOOKER FACES!!!!!
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