Not just any Zumba instructor, and I am blessed to have know a few….Ode to Judy, our Zumba instructor.

Tonight was Judy’s last class, perhaps for  a while.  She has endured the limits of foot and ankle pain and per her doctor’s instructions, she must cease teaching Zumba. So we celebrated with Chicken parm night, how else?  What happens when you take 18 women who just left a rigorous Zumba class  (without showering) and put them at one single table for dinner?  You get a perfect evening.  Observations and details:

• You can have 7 simultaneous conversations going on all at once and partake and add to each one without getting lost in it.
• None of us “sh-keve” sharing food and tasting each other’s dinner, even after being all sweaty.
• Each time I go out to dinner with these ladies, I learn something new.  I now know a hand gesture that is innocent in the US means something  entirely different in the UK.  Won’t make that mistake!
• I am not the only one who texts myself so I don’t forget things.
• I didn’t know Meg knew sign language. She stood next to Sue during her toast and signed the entire speech.  Since none of know sign language, she could have basically been telling all of us to pound salt.
• We have nicknamed most people in the class that we like and the ones we don’t like so much.  When reviewing the events of the class, we interject these people, by nickname,  into our stories and we all know who we’re talking about. (I fear what my nickname would be.)
• Jennifer and I sat across from each other almost dead center of the table.  At one point, we were not talking and realized that we were just listening.  I said to her that I thought that is what it’s all about….just listen.  We smiled and I love that sense of peace; peace among chaos!
• We always have a ‘Ginney good-bye” at the end of an evening.  It takes us 45 minutes to leave by the time we re-hash the evening and laugh our way out the door.

Now for you ‘non-Zumba’ people, I am not sure you understand the depth of this ‘life without Zumba’ change.  When I had knee surgery and I could not take Zumba, I was bummed out.  I needed that camaraderie.  Zumba is 60% people, 30% music and 10% ability.  You don’t need to be a dancer or have any sense of rhythm, just heart and the desire to have some fun (maybe laugh at yourself a  bit).  We now have monthly Zumba get togethers and that will keep Judy in the loop and up to date on what’s going on with the crew.  She will get that ‘fix’ and she can dance a bit in a living room, a kitchen or deck.  Technology has made communicating better, faster and more frequent. We won’t let her miss a beat.

So thank you Judy for playing the songs we love, teaching us new things and being such a wonderful friend and inspiration. I remember the first song you did at the end of Dawn’s class.  I think the song may have been Hey by Michael Franti. I thought you were great then and now I know that to be true.  Tonight wasn’t your last class or the end of something, it was the beginning of something new and now you can come and dance on the ‘dark side’ with wild abandon!