Even more 'Jo' to my world....

I was late, but gratefully P offered to park the car so that I could run up to our room and quickly change before rushing over to the fitness center for an afternoon Pilates class. Even though it was ready 4:05, when I got there I could see through the plate glass windows that they hadn't even started. I could also see that there were only three older women in there so I paused, but the oldest one spotted me. With her vanilla-colored hair, handsome wrinkles, and bright pastel-blue eyeshadow, she opened the door and said with a genuine New York accent, "Honey, you want to take a Pilates class?" Like, what am I supposed to say? I quickly closed my mouth and put a smile on and said, "Sure!" She answered, "OK, go in the locker room and get a big towel; these mats are so dirty." I did as I was told.

After that, it only took seconds for me to be completely sold by my 74-year-old Pilates teacher, Jo. She was one of the best instructors I had ever come across, the kind of instructor I aspire to become. We were 4 ladies total with me being the youngest by at least 15-20 years. Still everyone was at a different training level, yet Jo had all of us under her radar. Her instructions were clear, and I love how she incorporated a "breathe in through the nose, and out through the mouth" in between each exercise. She got up and offered feedback and encouragement to each participant and was quick to note that doing the corkscrew move was a good preparation to opening a bottle of wine that evening. For the next hour I had a silly smile on my lips the entire time. When was the last time you had a silly smile on your lips throughout an entire workout?

At the end of class, she pointed out her girlfriend who was wearing a pair of telltale white, sight-impaired glasses as she started up the treadmill. "That's my girlfriend, Edna," she said, "Yeah, she's here every day. She's 87." Then she proceeded to finish our class by reading an inspirational quote since we were now done "training our core, and it was time to train the core of our mind."

Respect.