Chapter 9: Jai Ho (You
Are My Destiny)
“Dance enables you to find yourself and lose
yourself all at the same time!”
-Peter Townsend
Lucy
was so happy with the way her first Zumba class was going. Her first time teaching was not flawless and yes, she blanked
out on some of the choreography that she had done over one hundred times but
she didn't care. She kept a smile on her face and her enthusiasm was
unmeasurable. Half way through the class the all familiar song Jai Ho
boomed through the speakers. "I've totally got this!" she
thought to herself. Sure enough, she was taken back to that gym in St.
Anthony, ID where she had gone to her first Zumba class. As she spun in a
circle, this time with her at the front of the class, she knew she had
arrived. She reflected on the long journey to get to this point and felt
a thankfulness to almighty God for allowing her the privilege of this
opportunity. Lucy was forty years old and finally achieving a lifelong
dream of teaching a dance class! The euphoric adrenaline rush boosted her
confidence to a level she had never known. "You are my
destiny!" the music swelled. Lucy was definitely born to do
this!
She looked around at her students and wondered what had
brought each of them there to her class that day. She was impressed with watching Nick Weldon
dance. He looked almost comical in his
“Nacho Libre” stretchy pants but she was just glad he was there. Nick brought such energy to the class. Only a few months ago, he had almost died of
a heart attack. His doctor told him that
he needed to change his diet, lose weight, and definitely wanted him to start
cardio workouts. Nobody thought he would
agree to come to Zumba with his wife…but he did. Not only that, he came to Zumba even when his
wife couldn’t make it. Nick had become a
regular and had proved that anybody can dance.
“There is no wrong way to Zumba,” Lucy had told her class at the
beginning. And she meant it.
She then glanced over at Kimberly who looked like she was
ten months pregnant. Kimberly was due in
just a few weeks and was as large as a house.
This would be Kimberly’s third child.
Her other children were four and two.
She definitely had her hands full but somehow when the music started,
Lucy could literally see Kimberly’s stress melt away. Kimberly was a born dancer, it didn’t matter
if she was pregnant or not. She always
knew which moves came next and transitioned easily from various dance
steps. Kimberly always had a smile on
her face and definitely had that pregnancy “glow”. Lucy remembered that she needed to pick up
balloons for her baby shower later that day.
Kimberly was always quick to put others before herself. Lucy knew she could do better at being more
selfless.
That’s what she loved about Boomerang Valley, everybody had
their own little small town story version of themselves. She smiled at her sister Lexie, “the town
perfectionist”. She looked over at Anton
and Danielle, “the town scandal.” She
looked over at Samantha, “the town…hmmm, that’s weird. I really don’t know anything about her at
all.” She looked at Kimberly, “mom of
the year” and finally she looked over at, Maddie, “the town survivor”. Maddie had been diagnosed with breast cancer
recently and had posted a quote on her facebook page that said, “Cancer, you
chose to mess with the wrong girl!” Lucy
wondered what her “small town story” was.
Probably “coach’s wife” she thought to herself. She was tired of feeling invisible when she
was around Drew or Coach Lemon as everyone called him. Teaching Zumba allowed Lucy the opportunity
to have the spotlight for once. She had
almost forgotten exactly who it was she was
without Drew. Oh she loved him, there
was no doubt about it but she often wished that people would know Lucy for
Lucy…not just Coach’s wife.
Lucy put her right arm up followed by her left arm up and
spun wildly in a circle feeling the pulse of the music. She couldn’t help but smile as she
danced. Life was perfect and she
intended to enjoy every minute of it.
She couldn’t wait to grab a smoothie with Lexie after the class. She was really working up an appetite. Instructing took a lot more out of Lucy than
she had thought. It was so much easier
to be a student than a teacher but she was sure she would get used to the extra
energy boost needed. She tried not to
freak everyone out by breathing heavily into her mic, but as the class went on
she found herself taking more and more water breaks. Note to self, she thought….hydrate, hydrate,
hydrate! But right now….dance, dance,
dance! And so she did.
Lucy was congratulated by all her class members at the close
of the class. Her cooldown had been
euphoric as she realized her dream of teaching Zumba for the first time. She had just jumped right in and loved every
minute of it. Lucy had definitely found her destiny. ..she was finally getting
paid to dance. As happy as she was though,
she was clueless to the struggles others in her small town were facing that
very day.
Pussycat
Dolls. Jai Ho. Rec. 23 Feb. 2009. Interscope, 2009.
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