Tuesday, August 16, 2011 -- Mattie died 101 weeks ago today. Regardless of the amount of time.... WE MISS MATTIE!Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2007. Mattie was five years old and just began kindergarten that year. This was the follow up picture from last night's posting. It shows Mattie on his uncle's boat with his cousins, Nat, Sydney, and Will. They were cruising down the Charles River in Boston, and as you can see Mattie was having a great time.
Quote of the day: My grief lies all within, And these external manners of lament Are merely shadows to the unseen grief That swells with silence in the tortured soul. ~ William Shakespeare
I began my day by attending my first Zumba class. I was inspired to try Zumba at home, since I participated in three sessions on our cruise. So last night I went on line and googled Zumba classes in my area. I discovered that the easiest way to search for a class is by city and certified instructors. The ironic part is I found an instructor whom I already know. She is a mom of one of the children from Mattie's kindergarten class. It is a small world. I emailed her last night and she invited me to her class today. So for an hour, I experienced my first on LAND Zumba class.
Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez in Colombia during the 1990s. Zumba involves dance and aerobic elements. Unlike a typical dance class where counts are used, Zumba involves following the music with repetitive movements.
In the 1990s, Perez forgot his tape of aerobics music for a class he was teaching. He took the tapes available in his car—consisting of traditional Latin salsa and merengue music—and improvised a class using this non-traditional aerobics music. After the initial success in Colombia, he took the class to the United States in 1999. Zumba is considered exercise in disguise, with a typical class burning between 500 and 1000 calories. The Zumba program is recognized by the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America, IDEA Health and Fitness Association, and the American Council on Exercise.
A Today Show Segment on Zumba:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Hxw_Jf2B4
The class was a good workout and I plan to continue going. There weren't many people in the class today because several participants are on summer vacation. This is actually an ideal way to start, because we all could easily see the instructor and learn the movements. Therefore, it wasn't a frustrating experience like on the ship. The instructor was telling me the process of becoming a certified zumba instructor. Apparently you only have to attend a 9 hour training session to qualify for certification. In addition, apparently Zumba sends all certified instructors music and a dvd of new dances each month. It is then up to the instructor how these new dance additions are integrated into the class. Some instructors follow the exact dvd dance moves to a T and others improvise upon the dances. Therefore it is easy to see that NO two Zumba classes will be alike. It is VERY instructor dependent!
After the class, I had several chores to do. However, while in a shopping plaza parking lot I realized I had a flat tire. I literally called Peter and asked him what to do. I do have AAA, but they weren't the first person I called. It was approaching the lunch hour, so Peter took his lunch hour to help me. He got into his car and drove out to me. He was in Washington, DC and I was in Alexandria, VA. In the midst of waiting for him, I was chatting back and forth with several friends. Two of whom were willing to come sit with me and help keep me company. The sign of wonderful friends.
When Peter reached my car, he could clearly see I had no air in my right tire. So he got all the equipment out to change the tire. Mind you he was in business attire and it was HOT out (or at least it was for him!). While he was working on the tire, we had all sorts of nice people come over to assist us. At one point I even had AAA on the phone, because we couldn't find the tool to remove the security lug nut. Eventually we found it and my spare tire was placed on the car. I feel like I learned how to change a tire today. Another thing I can add to my resume! I am not sure many husbands would drop work and what they were doing to come out and help their wives. But Peter is that kind of person and husband. I don't refer to his qualities often on the blog, but by now, I imagine my readers have figured out the kind of person he is.
Once my tire was replaced, I hopped back in the car and went to visit my friend Tina. Tina has just renovated the first floor of her house, and I have had the pleasure of tracking the construction progress throughout the summer. Now that it is complete, I got to see the finished product today. It is wonderful to see how rooms can be transformed, brightened, and made to flow smoothly into one another. Tina is the friend who planned the fundraising art show for Mattie Miracle in the spring, and today I got to see some of the wonderful pieces of art Tina has collected over the years from this particular artist. We had a nice afternoon catching up and chatting together.
When I got home this evening, I decided to pick Peter up from work, so he did not have to walk home. He had done more than enough of that today in order to get me in Alexandria. We made dinner together and Patches sat outside with us. Patches has come home very agitated from her boarding experience, but like I assessed, her lab results are negative for a urinary tract infection. I told the vet I highly doubted she had one, but instead told her that Patches' issues are psychological in nature especially while we are away.
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