It's fun to stay at the.....

Y....M.C.A, oh it's fun to stay at the Y....M.C.A! (C'mon, you know the words! Your arms are moving to make the letters aren't they!)

I made real progress yesterday! Sorry I missed a few days, but suddenly all I was doing (except for coughing that is) was trying to get well. Now I'm back to work, doing good, and back on track.

My first goal was to join the Y. That's the best place in Greenwood for me to take advantage of aqua exercise programs, and it's close to my school as well. It should be very convenient to get off work, run over to the Y, and be there in plenty of time for the evening water classes. Before I could do all of that, I had to actually join.

I drove over there, parked, and sat in my car. Suddenly, I was almost overwhelmed. I was going in there amongst all of these beautiful people who exercise and have the bloom of youth still in their cheeks. I was going to go in there, admit how much I needed to be there, and try to ignore the looks I was probably going to receive from the folks who didn't look like THEY needed to be there. I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. If you've never been overweight, never in my position, what I just wrote is hard to believe. You're thinking 'get out of the car and go join! What's the big deal?" It felt like a big deal suddenly. A VERY big deal, and I was the very big part. My queasy stomach said stay, my knee said 'get the *&$%# in the building!' So I went.

Three steps in the door and people were greeting me. The lady behind the counter wasn't a size 0, the nice guy leaning on the counter said "I hope you're here to join!" and the OTHER guy said "Hey, can I interest you in water exercise?" with a big grin. MAN. I never, ever, expected a greeting like that. They were absolutely wonderful. I immediately forget whatever the heck that nonsense was that I'd been worried about back in the car. They signed me right up, asked if I had doctor's instructions on what exercises to concentrate on, and set me up with a consultant who loves working with folks like me. They were quick to tell me she'd lost * 204 * pounds-- my kinda trainer! Several people walked by, saw that I was new, and asked what they could to do help motivate me from the start.

Holy COW.

So, have you ever actually paid attention to the words of that song? Yeah, I know, it gets a bad rap and is usually reserved for football games now. But just consider how much a difference this YMCA staff made for me in the first two minutes I was in the building! I pray that it will continue, that I will keep this motivation and drive to MAKE IT HAPPEN. If they will help me, I'm gonna let'em!

Young man, are you listening to me?
I said, young man, what do you want to be?
I said, young man, you can make real your dreams.
But you got to know this one thing!

No man does it all by himself.
I said, young man, put your pride on the shelf,
And just go there, to the Y.M.C.A.
I'm sure they can help you today.

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.
It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.

Enough for today... (waving my arms in the air....Y....M.C.A!)