Sorry about that next-to-last post...I guess lil mary lost her parasol. dove too deep. silly mary.
sitting in my car at the gym. sky opened up just as i got back in after my workout. now safe & dry in my creative cocoon. Music, energy bar, muscles tired but toned & stretched, gatorade, i'm all set. Had to buy a new journal, am rapidly nearing the end of my old spiral notebook. love the happy little bird on this one. tweet!!
Sooooo...I walk into Combat Fitness class. Before I even open the door I hear the loud thrashing music of Ozzy's Crazy Train. oh yeah, i am so on dat train! and so happy to be back in this class, i could give Instructor"Bob" a big kiss! Or not. ( (by the way, I changed his name in case he ever finds me here!)
We start right into it. Jab-cross-jab, upper cuts. ohhh, little mary sunshine, did i knock you down? got your pretty lacy parasol all muddy? awwwwww, so sorry...... POW!!!!!!
some new move, forgot the name...
I'm happy to find a spot right in front, but..."that girl" slips in late again, pushes past me and stands directly in front of me. I catch myself meekly stepping back, letting her pass, my gaze lowered to the floor. Funny how this feels so familiar, and how the hardwood gym floor looks remarkly similar to our kitchen linoleum..hmmm.
What's this noise? Where's my inner tiger? This chick, who does she think....OK,ok, I am over it. This is sooo NOT a competition! She may think she's won a battle in this class, bumping me backwards, but this ain't the real battlefield, Sugar. It's when we leave that door, that's when the fighting starts. when that bell clangs. real life. This is just preparation. But oooh, is it good today!
"I'm going to Kick your Boot-ahhhhs today!!" 'Bob' sneers at us.
"Mad Cary Moms, come at me!!!!" We all rush at him and the front mirror, punching our little hearts out.
I try to imagine what demons this "that girl" is fighting. They say "hurt people hurt people". Some people hide their hurts so well they just come off as mean.
So if that's true about hurting people, I wonder if healing people heal people too? Just wondering. Seems I've been a moving target for other hurting people lately; do they see it in my eyes that I just might understand their pain?
Example 1: The other day in Body Flow class. This woman in front of me. One look & I'm thinking "This woman smells of money, old Southern money. Perfectly manicured, she just has that 'look'. I easily conjure up an image of the snooty rich neighborhood she might live in. Then I catch myself and instead of jealous bittnerness, I choose to remember a discussion recently of our community's spiritual needs, particularly of the affluent, how they sometimes live very closed, protective lives, fearing others will steal all they have and not valuing themselves for things other than their wealth.
So I swallow my "humble pride" and give her a smile when the class ends. Her perfectly made-up face brightens, she comments on how limber I am, then launches into a monologue about her back probelms. A tad ad nauseum. Doesn't ask me a single question but looks at me as if I'm supposed to hold the key to spinal freedom. errrrrrr.... I offer some feeble encouragement and we go our separate ways.
Jabs: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, slip, slip" We jab and then duck our faces to avoid our opponents' returning punches.
Then yesterday...(example 2) I meet a woman at a discount store as we were both ooohing & ahhhhing over a rack of pretty sundresses. We talk for about an hour and a half, me & this very interesting woman: a Haitian-born, boarding school-raised intelligent person who holds multiple degrees and licenses from prestigous colleges, but shops at this same cheapy store as me & obviously has a few suitcase of baggage, too. We're getting pretty chummy and exchanging numbers and then she floors me by pulling out a stun gun to show me, and I'm like "Whaaaaaaa-???" This thing is cleverly disguised as a flashlight on a key ring. She gives the gun a tap to demonstrate, and it makes this gosh-awful noise that makes another woman across the aisle jump about 10 feet in the air. (I am at much closer range to it and I just about peed my pants! sorry..) So this other woman is immediatley fascinated and becomes part of our little huddle. She's a runner and wants one of these things herself, as she was once attacked running at a local lake. wow. Talk about run-ins with other hurting people. She seems tough, but who knows, underneath she may be another kindred spirit. Funny, Lord, are these just coincidences? I mean, funny to jump right into these conversations right after leaving my very good but hard, painful counseling session, complete with gut-wrenching tears and newly-opened cans of worms lying all over the floor.
So now these 2 women are really into this thing, as my original friend explains how it works to the Runner. We catch the eye of a 4th woman to join our huddle, she pokes her head around a a rack of full-figure garments and inquires,
"Y'all need a permit to have dat?" "Oh, no", assures my Friend, "this only has 4,000 volts. It doesn't require a permit to own one until it's over 6,000 volts." I see.... Turns out this 4th woman already has one of these in her car. Whodathunk?
Wow! Am I really this sheltered, that I had no clue that women all over this area carry stun guns in their purses? Man, I could've used one of these back in...never mind.
Friend explains that you must use the gun only on the attacker's arm, not the chest, or it could stop the heart from beating. ooh. hmmmm.
Runner girl wants to know how she could get one, too, so while they're exchanging contact info, I say adios and sneak away, avoiding the temptation to try to get one, too!
ok, where was I? oh yes. body combat. the alternative to stun guns!
Loving this. Great new combo- changes levels..
Punch body, head.... "STRENGTH!!!" yells Bob.
then Stick-Jabs...((2/3 the distance of a regular jab, and Fast!) "SPEED!!!" yells Bob.
then Double-hookss.. "Unleashed POWER!!!!!" yells Bob.
and then, "STAMINA!!!!" 130 consecutive jabs. "MAD CARY MOMS, GET FIERCE!!!"
"Aim for your target, Nose!!! Chin!!! Lip!!! Chin!!!Nose!!!"
We obediently batter away at our targets.
Mad. Sweaty. Hot. Red-Faced. Exhausted.
Yes, Bob, you have officially kicked my Boot-ayyyy!!!!!!
***Note to Reader: Thanks for reading all this, maybe I need to take up knitting or something less dangerous for a hobby. But I appreciate you hangin in there with me. I've been told recently that I need a friend in this healing process, someone who gets in there with me, stands alongside me, not someone who stands on the sidelines, afraid to get their hands dirty, waving a little flag and cheering, "Rah! Rah! Rah! Sis Boom Bah!! Get Well Soon! and Here, Enjoy this Chicken Pot Pahhh!!!" (pronounce "pie" like pah, like a true southerner and so it rhymes...) :)
So thanks. You just might be that friend. :)
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