By  LPJ

Gems of snippets. That’s what I get every time I go to the YMCA for my exercise class. Amazing how this class has grown from over 40 to about 80 in over a year, since I started to join it. It’s an hour of well-paced movements for seniors. More than half of the group are older than I, some same age as I, and a few younger ones. I am so motivated by this cheerful bunch, eager to follow prompts from an exceptional instructor whose program of exercise is so tuned in to the various levels and abilities of his students.

The truth is, I feel young whenever I’m in exercise class. Or perhaps, my mind tells my body, I’m still young, not really old, and very much able to do the regiment. And what about the gems I mentioned? Actually, they’re snippets of stories from the seniors I meet, blurbs of information about the lives they live and the dreams they still keep dreaming.

You see, dreams do not belong to the youth alone. They belong to the young once, too.

Marion wants to continue her art, ceramics. She used to teach ceramics at the Palo Alto recreation center, and still does once in a while. As a teacher of ceramics, she has access to the materials, and so she goes now and then to engage in something she loves to do. Juliana lived in Japan where her husband worked as an international banker. She was a friend to a lady from the Philippines whom she remembers to be very smart. She made it a point to repeatedly tell me that because she knew I originally came from there.

Margie gave me a rough textured cloth, 3 inches by 6 inches in size, that she said would help me open bottles or jars, at times a  difficult task because of occasional arthritic flare ups on my hands and fingers. I am thankful for that thick little red fabric that does magic in the kitchen for me. Tall and statuesque Rose comes to class always wearing a wide brimmed hat that makes me imagine we’re exercising outdoors in the bright sunlight. In her mid- eighties, she looks like a lively socialite in her sixties, out for a fun picnic.

Ysmael, stooped and frail, is a perky gentleman who braves the kicking, stretching and bending movements like a determined athlete. Every time he proclaims that he always does his best when he comes to exercise, he pushes his shoulders backwards to lessen the curve on his back. Bill, a seven footer, seems more bent each week he comes to class, but is as cheerful as ever, and radiates a wide friendly smile that matches his twinkling eyes. And there’s Eric who hasn’t come back to class in a while after a slip. He would amble to the exercise room with  a walker. He was an avid ballroom dancer who frequented the dance floor with his wife when he was younger. He dreamed of getting back to the ballroom if the exercise made him stronger.

Then there’s Sarah of 4”8’ height, almost 90, who bursts into the exercise room always with a beaming face, as her husband proceeds to the gym for the treadmill and bicycle machine. And there’s Ruth whose chats with me are often about her husband who leads a group for a  Habitat for Humanity project in San Jose. I told her that I had heard about it from a lady postdoc from Stanford who volunteers in his group. That lady’s role was pulling rusty nails off the weathered floor in a house under renovation. Ruth was happy that I knew about her husband’s humanitarian service.

I haven’t seen Fran in over a month. She’s always perky and chatty, though she suffers from chronic osteoporosis that causes a stoop. Fran mentioned that she and her husband would be gone about three months for a vacation in their condo up the Colorado mountain. Can’t wait to hear about her Colorado experience when she gets back.

I can tell you about many more. Perhaps later, as I get more snippets of lives happily lived, people who just don’t wait for the sunset, but also more eagerly for the sunrise. They are heroes to me. Brave ones who feel the blessings, live them, and share them.

I am a baby boomer. When I grow up, I’d like to be like them. I am in awe of them. I believe, we are in awe of one another. You see, when we’re in exercise class, we go not just for the patterned movements good for our bodies, but also to share in each other’s blessings, because we live them.

Linda P. Jacob