If you don’t want to read all of this (it’s kind of long) you have to at least watch the videos. I promise they will make you smile…and probably laugh a little (lot) too!

Last night was my first gymnastics class since I was 13 years old, which basically means I’ve been wanting to take another class for 24 years. That is not an exaggeration. The funny thing is that I weigh the same now as I did then (which hasn’t happened since) and surprisingly I still have the same strengths I had then…and the same weaknesses.

I learned about the classes two weeks ago but the first one wasn’t until tonight. I have been counting down the days! When today finally came I was SO excited, then I realized the class wasn’t until 8:30pm!

LONGEST. DAY. EVAR!

By the time 7:30 came around it was storming like crazy and I was so worried they were going to cancel class. Then it struck me that with all of my excitement I could have been setting myself up for sever disappointment. Like what if it was lame or I was awful or…any number of things?!?!

Long story short, GYMNASTICS WAS FAWESOME! It was even better than I expected. It far surpassed my hopes!

I did cartwheels and roundoffs and the splits and somersaults (which I did NOT think I could do!) and I even did backwards somersaults and handstands and dive-rolls and the very first stage of learning a back handspring– my lifelong dream.

Then at the end of class my friend Joy and I decided it would be a great idea to jump in the foam pit. She followed through on the idea flawlessly, I on the other hand, well…

It was like box jumps all over again! PS: I did not realize she was recording this whole thing.

As a kid I LOVED gymnastics. My favorite movie was Nadia. I went to Mary Lou Retton Gymnastics Academy for about 2 months when I was six, Sunrise Gymnastics Summer Camp when I was 10 and one other place for another month or two when I was 13. I NEVER wanted to quit. EVER. But my room was always a mess and my grades were bad and well, basically I was grounded from the time I was 7 until I was 15– it’s a long running joke in my family these days but that’ a blog for another time.

As a kid I would spend HOURS doing cartwheels and round offs and front handsprings and splits and handstands, over and over and over again, inside, outside, with friends, alone– whenever and wherever I could. I had the whole Nadia/Teadore routine from the movie memorized and I’d teach it to any friend who was willing to learn and do it with me. I LOVED gymnastics. I was naturally limber, naturally short…and naturally overweight, but that didn’t stop me and it’s not stopping me now!

I. AM. DOING. MOTHER. FREAKING. GYM. FREAKING. NASTICS!