A Gift For Emily.

It’s the end of an era.

Tonight I took my last Zumba class for the foreseeable future and possibly forever. My instructor friend, Emily, is moving to Australia in a couple of weeks and tonight was our last hurrah.

I’ve been taking Emily’s classes for more than three and a half years now. When I started, she had only been teaching for about nine months and classes were held at a local dance studio three times each week, and I was there for most of those. After a few months, she moved to the YMCA and taught three or four classes each week, and I followed. A couple of years ago she moved to a healthclub and only taught once a week, on Wednesdays, and I followed. (Funny thing about me: if I love you, I will follow you ANYWHERE.)

I have loved everything about Emily’s classes. The music, her choreography, her smile, and the joy she brought to Zumba got me hooked and turned me into a groupie of sorts. I wrote about our relationship in January of last year. No matter what has been going on in my life, Wednesday night Zumba with Emily was something I always made time for unless I was out of town.

The timing of Emily’s last move to the healthclub and the decrease in classes from three or four down to one each week serendipitously coincided with the end of my 30-day trial and the start of my becoming an almost daily (Dailey!) fixture at The Dailey Method. The timing felt very much like one door (partly) closing and another opening. Since then, I have doubled up my Wednesday workouts—TDM in the morning and Zumba with Emily in the evening—almost every single week.

And now I won’t.

It’s okay, though. Although I will miss Emily and Zumba so much, I’ll have Wednesday evenings free and my body will probably appreciate it. I’ll go back to doing Zumba in my kitchen on occasion, and of course, taking over the dance floor at any reception. I’ll also be keeping in touch with Emily via Facebook, thank goodness. It’s not like I’m losing her forever, just on Wednesday nights.

I was going to pick up a small gift for Emily, to show her my appreciation for the last three and a half years, but she and her family have sold every possession that can’t be stored with relatives or fit into their suitcases: they’re only taking what they can carry on the plane.

Being a former group fitness instructor, I always considered it a huge gift when someone told me that I had a positive impact on their life, and so…this, a gift for Emily.

Emily, they say people come into our lives for a reason. I know why you came into mine. I had been mostly teaching classes and hardly taking classes for a couple of years when I met you. I wasn’t getting proper workouts in which I could focus on myself because I had to worry about everyone else, and I was unhappy about that.

Special thanks for keeping my very favorite Zumba song of all time on your playlist for the last few months and up through tonight’s final class. In case you’re wondering, my final stats say that I only accidentally hit myself in the face during that one part about 27% of the time.

I’m so happy for your family and this big move, and I look forward to keeping an eye on your adventures Down Under via Facebook. Oh, and if you ever wanted to start a blog to keep your stateside family and friends updated, I may know somebody who can help you get started.

Thanks for everything, my friend. It’s been fun.