The Melissa Etheridge Exercise Program

Friday night I went to the Melissa Etheridge concert and it was great. There was the small problem with the fact that The Orpheum and I disagree on what is considered a comfortable seat (Them: Oh, anyone who weighs less than 200 can comfortably sit in down in these seats. No one would weigh over 200 pounds. That's just craziness. Me: Oh, my God, I don't even think my thigh would fit in here!).

With a great deal of angling and holding my breath and saying "The heck with it! Pain doesn't matter! Really painful bruises on my thighs don't matter!" I was able to angle myself in such a manner that I could sit down but it was not comfortable. Hence the (mental) disagreement with The Orpheum (oh, but it's such a beautiful theatre. Glorious).

Beth said "Well, we'll be dancing a lot." I smiled and nodded. I don't dance. What I do is more of a rhythmic tapping that sort of moves up and down my legs. I will occasionally shuffle. Sometimes I get carried away and rapidly nod my head (may be sometimes construed as head banging). I don't raise my hands in the air because of problems I'm having with my left shoulder (although I wished that I had my weighted gloves with me because it would have been even better of a workout). I figured, once I got into the seat, there was no way you were getting me out of it. Uh-uh. No, sir. No how.

And then Melissa Etheridge walked out onto the stage. And she began to sing. And rock. And roll. And I stood up and started moving. I couldn't help it. I still didn't dance but there was a whole lot of rhythmic tapping going on.

After a while, my legs started to hurt and I sat down again. Still painful, still angled but having such a great time from the music I didn't care. I sat down for two songs. And then she started rocking again. I was back up and moving around again, singing my heart out.

Later on Melissa started playing The Weakness In Me, a slower song. I sat down again, expecting a battle of the bulge. Imagine my shock when I sat straight down in the chair. No angling required. Still a little painful because part of me was spilling over into the next chair (thank God we had an extra seat) but I was sitting down.

I've decided that, once I buy all of her albums (I'll start with Lucky), I'm going to play a CD every other day to start. You can't help but move when you listen to her. If I'm moving, that's a heck of a lot more exercise than I get in a normal day.

So here I am, still sore and bruised), still tired, but still rocking and buzzed from the energy. So buzzed that, after the concert, when we went to Perkins, I asked for water instead of Diet Coke. Believe me when I say that is not like me.

Hoping your day is rocking as well.

D