.Gym, take 1!

Yes, I got the lovely purple yoga mat w/ kind of matching strap at Target. No that's not all we bought. We now have Gator Golf and a new play-doh set. Both, more than worth the money for the hours on nondigital play they've provided the last couple of days.
So, with Mr. M armed w/ new toys & nick jr, I went solo this morning to the gym. I left at 8:15, drove in circles, parked, sat in my car, and finally walked in at 8:55. One of the longest 15 minute drives I've ever taken.
While waiting for Tai Chi to start, I watched some people cycle, some dancing, and took a peek at the aqua aerobics class in the pool. Aqua aerobics will be my next adventure.
A few things made the pre-exercise confindence soar a bit.
1) Not everyone there looked like supermodels.
2) I'm at least two decades younger than most morning class participants.
3) Diet coke in the vending machine outside the gym. I am not a nice person precaffeine.

Then the Tai Chi peeps were there, and I noticed
1)no mats
2) shoes.
Crud. Wrong prep for this class. But the teacher said barefoot was fine. So barefoot I did!
Tai Chi went sooo well! I was excited, wanted to use my new mat, and not exercised out, so I called Mr. M and asked if he'd mind if I stayed for the next class, "Gentle Yoga."
He said sure, so stay I did.
I'm sooo thankful for my pretty purple mat! I would have hated to give cooties to the next user of the gyms mats from all the tears I shed during that class. Gentle my arse. Appropriately enough the resting pose was called "the child pose." I spent a bit of extra time there and in the "total muscle failure" pose. Especially when the others were in Downward Dog and that other inverted V pose. I have great calves. I can do that L thing. I can do the "airplane." But apparently those thigh/hip muscles have a ways to go. My personal mortification was amplified by the beauty of the 80+ year old lady next to me and how gracefully she could shift from one phase to the next.
After the class, said lady actually spoke to me.
"Is this your first class?"
"Yeah. I haven't been in a gym for about ten years."
"Well, keep trying. I felt that way at first too. But it gets easier. I've been doing this for about two years, and just never give up."
Then I went back to my car and was crying again...but for a much better reason.