Fall 2018 Update - Groove

Okay, so the coolest thing I did in 2018/2019 was get my Groove certification! I've been watching Body Groove videos by Misti Tripoli on YouTube ever since my sister showed them to me, and when they said they had training classes to lead Grooves with kids and families, I realized that my calling is to dance with my patients and inspire kids to get moving, and this will fit the bill much better than the Dr. Fun dance channel, so I pulled that big ole trigger. I also invited my sister to keep me company in San Diego, where the training was.

Just a shot of Atlanta's underground jungle - there are fake birds flying overhead and fake rain - so cool.

So we arrived Thursday afternoon, had some drinks to get ready for 1.5 hours of dancing with complete strangers, and headed to the resort where the Community Groove was. It was a packed house and definitely culture shock, but kind of liberating. After that, Tracey had to sit in the lobby another hour and wait for me to finish the first official class.

Our room looked over a lagoon with cool fog every morning, and Tracey stitched and read while I was in classes for 19 hours over the weekend.

This was the epitome of training - putting in your earbuds, firing up your playlist, and grooving around the resort in public - yikes! We got lots of weird looks but had so much fun.

After that I had to do 6 practice classes with at least 5 participants each and send one in for evaluation and certification. This entailed lots of research into sound systems, speakers, receivers, headsets, etc. Totally out of my wheelhouse.

This is my first Groove party at the hospital, and they even had an Azalea Trail Maid come! Unfortunately, I only had 1 patient and her grandmother show up, but the 3 of us danced anyway. The second party was even more interesting, as an elderly couple showed up by themselves, and I talked the husband into dancing with us instead of sitting in the car waiting on his wife. They were completely willing to come to another class, but I broke it to them that I'm only certified for kids and their families, not adults. So I moved on from the hospital to the Crichton Boys & Girls Club, and danced with 40-50 kids over this past summer - lots of funny stories there. The sweetest was having kids run up and hug me when I walked in and one girl telling me I was her best friend. Another was having a couple of the older boys roll their eyes and yell, "Not HER again!" And there was that one escapee who ran out of the gym after the coach broke up a fight and when the coach went after him it sounded like I was in the middle of a prison riot. I'm still working on the appropriate location for future Groove parties.

Okay, this is Halloween at the office...

I made my fake fur wrap out of fleece and the black dress is the first one I ever made back in about 1996 or so. Still fit in it - booya!

This was at the American Heart Association national meeting in Chicago at the employment fair trying to hire a partner. I think I looked more like a cougar on the prowl...hmmmm.

And this was for "Couples' Weekend" in New Orleans. We bowled, so Dean went all out and found us matching bowling shirts!



And this was just a funny moment while Jake and I were watching Bruce Almighty.

More updates on the way so I can look back and remember what the heck I did all year.