YMCA

I love my Y. We finally joined this past month and it's SO been worth it.

We mainly joined for the pool. The kids both love to swim and it's the only form of exercise all four of us can agree on. We've taken friends twice and gone as a family countless times. Just for that the membership is more than worth it.

One day I went into the actual gym part and a really nice instructor helped me use the complicated machinery. Well, it looks complicated but really it's not bad once you start. And I should also mention that every single employee I've met so far has been nice. Like, really nice. They apparently only hire people who smile and are friendly. I really don't understand why more businesses don't do that (well, ok, then all the grumpy frowny people wouldn't be able to support themselves).

The Y also has a bunch of classes. We're looking into Tae Kwon Do for Bridget. She's wanted to take Karate for awhile but the prices of the local classes were crazy. When I found the Y had inexpensive Tae Kwon Do classes (without a lot of commitment too) I was thrilled, until Bridget told me she wanted *Karate*. Does she know the difference? Nope. It was totally the name. But yesterday at a playdate she found out one of her favorite friends takes Tae Kwon Do in her town so . . . problem solved! Now it's become cool and she wants to take it. Yay! The new session starts in September so we'll see then.

There are also a number of adult classes that are free which brings me to tonight.

We had a bad evening yesterday and my cloudy mood carried over into today. I was having a hard time shaking it so tonight after dinner I decided to go to the Y and exercise. Mostly for some alone time. While there I asked about the meditation class tomorrow and expressed interest in the next session of Tai Chi. The guy at the desk (a really friendly guy who's helped me before) said there was a class starting in 5 minutes that I could try out instead of waiting for the next session (weeks away). I was waffling and he was (nicely) saying I should try it so finally I did.

It. Was. Great. An hour in the company of friendly adults. Only adults. Ok, maybe that was mostly it ;-) But the Tai Chi was fun too. I've taken Qigong before and always wanted to try Tai Chi. It's very relaxing and meditative and just what I needed tonight.

So the membership to the Y, that we put off for years, is completely, utterly worth it. While Robert is off school anyway I'm taking advantage of that and will be attending Tai Chi Tuesdays and Thursdays and meditation Wednesdays. And when he's back to teaching (September?) I might just continue the Tai Chi (the meditation I'll have to drop).

And it's only 2.5 miles from the house so not a lot of gas either. Can't beat that :D