Some time in college, I visited my Grandma Tripp in California and she mentioned a water aerobics class she had been attending. As she described it and how much she liked it, I realized it sounded like something I could do, and something that might help me feel a little less afraid of being in the water. (It seems strange to me now because I feel totally comfortable in a pool, but I remember clearly my motivation to try out a class was to overcome that fear, and I can just vaguely remember my first few days in the class and how close I stayed to the edge of the pool!)
I joined an evening class at BYU and quickly learned to love my evenings there with our fun teacher and with familiar classmates that became friends over my years of attending.
I was a runner, and I learned that water aerobics was a perfect cross training choice because while it was a good workout, it was also super easy on my joints and always left me feeling stronger and ready for a run the next day (unlike kickboxing that I had tried previously! :)
During my first pregnancies while we still lived in Provo, I loved the class even more (because the last month of my pregnancy with Ellie fell over the school's semester break, I joined a new class at the Orem rec center. And I can remember walking in to class, making small talk and another classmate asking when I was due, to which I answered something like "tomorrow!") It was just great to move and relax and exercise and also just feel not quite so heavy for that hour in the pool!
Since we have moved to Logan, I still haven't found a great class to join. I know there is one at SkyView, but the drive has always felt too long. There's a class at the gym, but the membership seems high and the times have never fit too well with our schedules. For a few months last summer, wanting to find some exercise I could do without feeling worse from my arthritis, I did join the class and I did enjoy it (and even though I was half any other class member's age, I still enjoyed making friends.)
We planned our trip to New York with one day of overlap between our time together and Jordan's working time, so I'd have one day on my own to do whatever I wanted. I got ready slowly, visited the MoMA and the MoMA design store, had lunch at Whole Foods, and went to a water aerobics class.
The two pools I saw at the Westside YMCA were breathtaking. They were old and worn, but they were beautiful! The walls and floor surrounding each of the pools were covered with detailed tile, the windows painted with color, the arched entryways grand... I wanted to take pictures or a video of each corner of the pool because it was just so neat, but I was also in a swimsuit (+ a borrowed swim cap to follow the rules!) and not wanting to draw too much attention to myself from all the rest of the class members just coming in for their Tuesday morning class.
And just like always the class was fun and familiar - cross country skiing in the deep end while balancing on a pool noodle, running in place and circling arms in the shallow end... My favorite difference though were the quiet voices popping up from a couple of class members contentedly singing along with the background jazz music, and this comment - "This music is so good, I can't help it!"
