The first morning of my new exercise class started with cake and coffee. A nice lady by the name of Grace was also new to the class. We arrived at 6:40 AM – five minutes before the scheduled time – at the high school gym. After ten minutes of waiting and wondering if we had the correct location we walked around the building, ears tuned for any sound of people exercising. Finding none, we returned to the gym. Laughter and voices greeted us, and we saw people standing around a table drinking coffee and eating cake!
The cake was light and fluffy – a low-fat raspberry “JELLO Cake” with ladyfingers. There wasn’t any cream for the coffee so I skipped it.

It took another ten to fifteen minutes to celebrate the birthdays of two seasoned members. Feeling a bit anxious, I kept looking at the teacher for any forthcoming reprimands regarding the amount of time this was taking from any physical activity. She was enjoying the party as much as anyone. “This is my kind of exercise class!” I said.

At about 7:15 AM, Grace and I gave each other skeptical glances and eagerly followed the teacher downstairs to the weight room to begin learning the new routine. Ten minutes later the others joined us and the laughter continued.

We watched demonstrations and practiced for about 30 minutes. It was a relatively light workout. The next day I had a small knot in my neck and said to my husband, “This cannot possibly be from the exercise class because I hardly moved a muscle.” His reply was that it must have been whiplash from the double take I did when I saw the cake!

I have been attending regularly since the first of June – enjoying the people, laughter, and benefits of a more appropriate workout than that first day. On mornings when I don’t really feel like going and could easily talk myself out of it, I wonder if someone will serve cake and get myself to class.

—

June 2007 Maine Warmers’ Newlsetter Story

Maine Warmers designs and sells microwave heating pads to relax & relieve sore muscles. All of their products, when frozen, become gentle ice packs to reduce swelling and pain. Their Cozy Sheep and Dachshund Neck Warmer (a.k.a. Hot Dog) as well as other designs make comforting get well gifts for all ages.