Random Memories of Germany-Aerobic Part 4

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Just a random memory – As we were doing the cool down in one class (it was always done on the floor, to a relatively slow song and involved stretching), I asked one of the students if she liked that particular workout and song.  Her response: “Yes, but I’m still waiting for Perry Como!”  I’ve had a good laugh from that through the years.  I think my favorite cool down song was Lady by Kenny Rogers – and I’m not a huge fan of Country/Western music!

Related to aerobic dancing, but not directly to the classes – between sessions, my partner and I would print up flyers with our logo and the dates and venues for the next session’s classes.  Our sessions usually were 12-weeks long, with an occasional 9-week session thrown in, if the longer one would have run into either summer or a major holiday.  The two of us would go to both housing developments and pass out the flyers by putting them on the “bulletin boards” in each stairwell, or in the doors of the individual houses for upper ranking personnel.  During one of those times, we were standing in front of one of the single units, when I felt such a horrible pain in my foot that I began groaning loudly – essentially screaming! – and jumping up and down!  Looking down at my foot, I realized there was a bumble bee on my foot – and it had stung me! 

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Oh the pain!!  I was ready to hand my partner my set of flyers and head home, but she insisted that I help her complete the mission!  It took me a while, but I finally made it home and made a poultice of baking soda to cover the sting.  I am just thankful that I was not allergic to bee stings!

One thing I tried very hard to do, was to recognize/remember my students by name.  I didn’t want to be the kind of instructor who only smiled and said “hello” as they came into the gym for class.  I wanted them to know that I was actually interested in who they were and that I knew them!  In that way, we had made attendance cards for each session.  The card held our logo, a place for their name, and a number of squares for how many classes we would have in that particular session.  We marked the squares off each class.  And so, I would mark the square, hold the card up to them, and repeat their name – matching name and face – until I had it firmly in mind.  I would like to think my students enjoyed the fact that their teacher made the effort to remember them as individuals!

And along that line, if I were to see one of my students outside of class, I would greet them by name and say something like “do you recognize me with clothes on?”  And then we would both laugh – because they usually saw me in shorts and T-shirt!  I’m sure that my question gave pause to anyone my student was with – until we explained the situation to them.  

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: Memories of Germany, Military Life, Teching aerobics