Reconnecting

When I go to the gym, I usually try to go by myself. Sometimes I try to drag Nick, but usually that’s more trouble than it’s worth. I think I’ve wasted a few hundred dollars on gym fees for him, but I hope one day…

Zed will go with me every now and then. I kind of fibbed to the gym manager that Zed was 12 when he was really 11.5. But now he really is 12, so it’s all good. I was glad they didn’t ask for ID. But poor Elle has to make a visit to the gym daycare, at $2 per visit. She always wants to work out with me, but sadly it’s against the rules. And it’s not like she couldn’t do it. Every day she reports to me “I ran 35 laps in the gym today without stopping during after-school.” Next week she’s shooting for 50 laps without stopping. I have no clue how far it is around the gym, but I imagine than many laps is a fair distance.

When I saw the gym advertising the special Valentine’s couple’s yoga, and that the ‘couple’ could be husband/wife, friends, parents/children*, AND that *children must be at least 9, I knew who I wanted to take with me.

So Friday night, Elle and I went to yoga together. Everyone else in the class was husband and wife, even the instructor and her husband. But Elle didn’t get intimidated, and was really enjoying the class. We did individual poses, but also several poses that required the both of us to work together and communicate with each other. It was her first yoga class, so I had to help her with a few of the individual poses in addition to our ‘couples’ poses. The only pose we couldn’t really complete was the “Lizard Sitting On Rock”. Had I been the lizard, I would have squished my rock. We also had some difficulty with the Boat. We managed one leg, but not two. We did really well with the Tree pose, as well as a few others requiring us to balance.

The part I liked most though was at the end. The instructor came around with some hand oil, and we rubbed each other’s hands. Then we sat and looked into each others eyes as we held hands, and really reconnected. It was some of the best time she and I have spent together in a long time. I hugged her and told her thank you for coming with me. It was nice to be able to put the stress of the daily ‘find the backpack, sign the homework, get to soccer practice, feed me dinner’ grind on-hold and just enjoy each other.