Friday morning exercise class

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exercise, osteoporosis, postaday2013, repetition, social hour, weights

This Friday morning we had lively discussions during weight class. The ladies were talking a great deal about the Pope’s resignation. No one was critical of the Pope, on the contrary they were very supportive of the Pope’s decision and they admired him for his self-awareness and his selflessness. All of the ladies in the group go to Church faithfully and are very active in the Church’s social calendar. So I can, with confidence, state that my dear ladies thought about the Pope’s decision and its ramifications very seriously and thoughtfully.

After the ladies had exhausted the subject of the Papacy, they moved on the Meals On Wheels and how prolific it had become, how much better quality the meals are now over fifteen years ago and all the good that the program brings to its patrons. Everyone in our group has family around them, so I am pretty sure that they will all be well taken care of later on down the road and probably won’t be dependent on the elderly program of Meals On Wheels which, sadly for many elderly, is the only source of a hot meal and some company during the day.

After that, the ladies moved right along to the latest deaths that had been in the obituary’s that past week. The one that had the most impact was the suicide of a successful businessman who ran the Pomeroy farm and maple syrup/general store and breakfast restaurant. His death was a shock to all of the ladies and they spent the last part of the class talking about the funeral, the family taking over the running of the business, the fact that there wasn’t a will.

I kept quiet, content to listen to everyone’s viewpoint and opinion. My exercise class for me is relaxing and serves as nice social hour. I love my ladies.

Weekly weight class and the girls

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exercise, osteoporosis, postaday2012, social time, weights

Every Friday morning the girls and I do weight class together, it starts at 9:30 and ends at 10:45. It doesn’t sound like much but it does the trick for me. The weight class is part of the Council of Aging and my mother-in-law, a few years before she passed away, dragged me with her for a few sessions and before I knew it, I was asked to be the co-leader of the group with Sybie. So Sybie and I are the leaders of our osteoporosis weight class and we alternate leading every week.

Since I am the baby of the group, I make it my job to listen and soak up as much of the girls wisdom as possible. I’m the newest addition so while the girls take the opportunity to solve the world’s problems, I take notes and try to remember what I don’t want to be like when it is my turn to be old. I have to admit that I do hear a lot of how lazy the youth are today, how it is all the mother’s fault for not being there, the youth of today. I often wonder how in the world did they forget that their own parents probably had the same criticisms about their generation.

They are also republicans, not all of them, only the vocal ones, so when politics enters the airwaves, I keep my mouth shut. I like these women so very much and I don’t want to make our time together about political disagreements. I always try to steer the conversation towards food, who can resist speaking about food; good bread, different ways to make chicken, how to make a nice spinach gratin, what kind of filling to put in a puff pastry and I can go on. I end up making everyone hungry by the end of class.

We have off next Friday because it is the day after Thanksgiving, we did promise each other to take the time to go for a long walk after our Thanksgiving meal to get some exercise in on our special day of feasting.

Summer vacation from weight class

Tags

exercise class, osteoporosis, postaday2012, weights

Tomorrow is our last day for our weekly weight bearing exercise class for the year. We always take the summer off because most of the ladies have very busy social lives during July and August. They have garden clubs, the Westfield Women’s club, traveling every which way with their husbands and entertaining the grandchildren. These ladies are busy, busy. I don’t mind the break either because come September I feel excited about seeing the ladies again and doing weight class once more. Ten months of leading the ladies every other week is enough for the year, sometimes it feels like I’m an Australian sheepdog trying to impose a little bit of order amongst the group while they are busy talking about this or that. It is funny, sometimes I could get them to stop talking by having us do an exercise involving lifting the leg straight back for 15 reps, the silence is interesting. However now after all these months that tactic has worked less and less, another reason for the break. When September comes around that exercise that I was talking about will really work in curbing the chatter. The ladies have built up their muscles and stamina beautifully. They all deserve their vacation. I’m lucky that I tagged along with my mother-in-law four years ago and was accepted by these ladies who have now become my friends. This class isn’t just good for me physically but also socially, knowing the ladies has given me a bird’s eye view as to what awaits me when I get older, most of it good.