332. Tuesday Night Connections

It’s been freezing here the past few days. I don’t think the temperature has gotten above the single digits. I barely talked to anyone at the bus stop. I froze while waiting for the bus on the way home. It would have been the perfect evening just to retired to the couch and binge on Netflix for a while. But I thought I’d probably get cabin fever if I did that. So I decided to go to Yoga. I signed up for the class around 4 p.m. I knew I just needed to change as soon as I got home and then head out. Otherwise I’d stumble and just go to the couch, and then I’d know that I’d feel awful for the rest of the day.

I went to the class and I got ready. I sat outside the room. Nobody else was waiting. Everyone else I saw came in went to different classes. I began to get a little nervous that I’d be the only person in the class for the evening. Turns out, I was. The instructor, a woman who looked to be in her earlier 60s, told me that she was totally fine leading the class if I was fine being the only one. I said I was. I just wanted to get out of the house for the evening and not feel like a slob. The class turned out to be really great. It was just physically demanding enough to burn off some excess energy, but not enough of a workout where I thought I’d regret coming.

After class, the woman and I chatted for a little bit. I asked her if she did anything else for work outside of teaching yoga. She said she had another job as a church music director. Just so you know, that isn’t the typical job I hear from yoga instructors. I asked her which church and she said it was at Christ the King in Southwest Minneapolis. Now, I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect her to say a Catholic church. I told her to that I went to the Basilica. She said she went there for a concert last week. I asked her if it was the CSB/SJU concert. She said it wasn’t, but that she went to St. Ben’s. I told her I went to Saint John’s. Those were all coincidences that I didn’t expect to find at a Yoga class on a Tuesday evening.

I could have done next to nothing this evening, but I felt energized by class and by my connection with the teacher. I went to Office Max to get some copies made, and then next door to the liquor store to pick up some Christmas beverages. I spent the rest of the evening writing Christmas cards and sipping Brandy. A pretty solid evening if I do say so myself. Sometimes it just pays to get out of the house, even for a little bit. Though I wouldn’t mind if it warmed up a little bit.