Black Lights, How I Love Black Lights...

Pretty to seeeeee.... shine one on MEEEEEEE!!!

My friend, Megs, and I went to a Black Light Zumba class on Friday night. Ohhhh so fun. I mean, first of all, I love Zumba. Tonsandtonsandtons. I'm not quite as obsessed with it as I am with spinning, but still. It's up there. I think there are a couple of reasons it's not number one for me right now - 1) I think it's something that is really, really fun to do with a friend, but not really when you go by yourself. You just feel dumb by yourself. 2) I don't mind shaking my booty. I love dancing. It feels natural and wonderful for me. But I DON'T like looking at my fat belly in the mirror while I'm shimmying. Which is why Black Light Zumba was perfect for me. It was dark. So I felt free to just shake what the Lord gave me.

I heard about it because it was held at the gym where I work out. It was a fundraiser benefitting colon cancer - a worthy cause, for sure. But the minimum "donation fee" was $7, and I wasn't gonna spend $7, no matter how much I like black lights. But my sweet dad paid for two tickets and told me to invite someone out. Megs is obsessed with Zumba, so I, of course, asked her to come along.

It was packed. Like maybe 200 people? 250 people? It was in the big gymnasium, but still wayyyyy too crowded for an exercise class. Megs and I went over to one side to kind of avoid running into people or stepping on peoples' toes.

They handed out glow-in-the-dark bracelets to each person going in - I gave mine to Sadie when I came home, and she felt so special. Dylan was quite put out that I didn't have another one for him.

You know how, when black lights are on, anything you have on that is white is, like, blindingly bright? Some crazy ladies I saw bought some white thong panties and wore them over their dark yoga pants. It was funny. One of the teachers wove bright white ribbons through her hair, which looked crazy cool once the lights were on.

A local dance group did a hip-hop dance at the very beginning. I couldn't see very much, but I was REALLY impressed with what I saw. I had to try hard not to cry. It's weird - I get really emotional about dance. I start to cry and gulp a little bit whenever I see people dancing. I just miss it SO much. I was watching some dance competition the other night - is it called "Just Dance"? I think so. Anyways, there was a couple doing pas de deux, and I was just sitting there on the couch, giving Gage his bottle, and sobbing. When I was at spinning last night, the teacher played this song that I adore, and I closed my eyes and started choreographing a dance inside my mind. And the dance was so awesome and the music was so awesome, and before I knew it, I was tearing up, right in the middle of my speed pedaling. I had to open my eyes and think about something else. Ben and I were talking about this last night. He says I need to get back into dance and teach it. I would love to, but dude. I need to lose like 30 pounds. Not just to look good while dancing, but for safety's sake. I would twist the crap out of my ankles at this juncture. And I've been away from dance for so long, I don't know if I can get back in. It's been, like, 12 years since I last put on pointe shoes. I don't know. I consider it all the time, but I'm just not ready yet, maybe? And I'm so stinkin' busy. When would I find time to teach dance classes? I don't even have time to pee. Or, like, trim my fingernails. Seriously. I'm in full-blast Mommy Mode. I can give like half an hour a day to working out, but I can't give like four or five hours a day, a must for a dance teacher.

Anyways. Then they finally started the class, and it was so much fun. There were five zumba teachers up on the stage, and each of them taught maybe four dances. Those ladies have crazy amounts of energy. I get really jealous of people who have energy. I used to have energy, but thyroid disease will rob you of that. The energy in that room really was palpable. The music was fantastic, and I felt like I was in a high school dance. It was so much fun.

There was some confusion among the crowd about direction. Usually, in a class, the teacher is in front of you and facing the mirror. And if she goes left, you go left. If she goes right, you go right. You don't want to get seasick. But the teachers were on a stage, facing the crowd. Nobody could figure out what to do. Some people (like me) were avoiding the seasickness - if the teacher went left (our right), I went right. Some people were using the same foot as the teacher. So people were bouncing off each other all evening. It was funny.

So here's something new - there was a time when the teacher was having us jump up and down in place, feet together, one arm fist-pumping, Jersey Shore-style, and dude. I totally had some bladder leakage! How old am I, 86??? I guess this is what happens when you have four kids. I had to stop the jumping and just kind of march in place. Sad. I told Ben about it later, which was a huge mistake. He made fun of me for like three days, making jokes about buying me some Depends, blah blah blah. One thing about Ben - if you confide something embarrassing to him, he will tease you about it UNTIL YOU DIE. I should have learned my lesson by now. :)

The class was only supposed to last an hour, but it went way overtime, which was fine, but it was a Friday night, and I was missing my hubs, and Megs needed to get home, too, so she and I left after about an hour and fifteen minutes. They had free frozen yogurt for each lady as she left, which was awesome. Some new yogurt shop that wanted to get its name out there. I got the peach-flavored kind. Yummm. Dylan was also very jealous of my frozen yogurt.

Anyways, I had a great time. Thanks, Dad, for the tickets, and thanks, Megs, for coming with me!